Indonesian law enforcement recently cracked down on ten Bitcoin mining operations, shutting them down over allegations of electricity theft amounting to nearly $1 million. The North Sumatra Police Force took action against these operations, spread across multiple sites in the country, seizing 1,134 Bitcoin mining machines, 11 meters of electrical cable, and computer equipment.
Irjen Agung Setya Imam Effendi, the Chief of North Sumatra Police, accused the organizers of these operations of manipulating electrical circuits to power the extensive array of Bitcoin mining machines. He demonstrated how the electricity flow had been diverted from its intended path, directly siphoning it from the pole instead of going through the proper metering process.
The estimated loss from these ten locations due to electricity theft is reported to be around 14.4 billion Indonesian rupiahs, roughly $935,666.
This crackdown follows a similar case in China in August 2023, where a government official received a life sentence for accepting bribes and enabling access to electricity for a massive Bitcoin mining enterprise. The enterprise, conducted under the name Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, reportedly consumed a significant portion of Fuzhou city’s electricity supply, amounting to 2.4 billion Chinese yuan ($329 million) at one point.
