In July 2021, 1,069 confiscated bitcoin mining units, worth a total of 5.3 million ringgit ($1.25 million), were lined up in the parking lot of a police station in Miri and crushed one by one with steamrollers, the culmination of several joint raids that police in Miri, Sarawak, and Sarawak Energy Berhad had carried out between February and April 2021, according to Bernama and The Star. Police said evidence gathered from miners who had illegally tapped SEB's power lines showed losses of 8.4 million ringgit (about $2 million). As a result, eight people were detained, and six of them were charged with electricity theft under Section 379 of Malaysia's Penal Code, drawing sentences of up to eight months in jail and fines of up to 8,000 ringgit (about $1,900), The Star reported. The Electricity Supply Act 1990 allows for stiffer penalties under Section 37(1), which some reports put at up to 1 million ringgit in fines and 10 years in prison for tampering with installations in a way that endangers life or property, while other accounts and the government's own published version of the Act cite a lower ceiling of 100,000 ringgit and five years. Across Malaysia and in several other countries, cheap or free electricity can make illegal mining more attractive for people looking to cash in on crypto without paying for the power it takes to run.
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