During the Christmas holiday, authorities in Indonesia raided ten locations that they believed were mining bitcoin using electricity that had been stolen from the national grid.
Despite its rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies, Indonesia is not particularly recognised as a mining hub. But in Indonesia, stealing electricity is illegal and can result in fines of up to twice the amount of unpaid electricity or up to five years in prison.
Though there have been multiple arrests in neighbouring Malaysia related to cryptocurrency miners stealing electricity, this may be the first case in Indonesia to be reported. Authorities discovered 1,314 bitcoin rigs at the raided locations in Medan, North Sumatra, and 26 people were taken into custody.
Over the previous six months, the suspects are accused of breaking into utility poles owned by the state-owned electricity company PLN and stealing electricity. The state allegedly suffered losses totaling about 14.4 billion Indonesian rupees ($100,000).
Although that might not seem like much, at current local energy prices, it equates to about 10 million kilowatt hours, or the annual energy consumption of about 7,500 people in the nation. A PLN representative informed a local news source on Thursday that the business will collaborate with law enforcement on cases of a similar nature.