In Buryatia, a 'Mining Truck' Stole Electricity Worth 3 Million Rubles

An illegal mobile mining farm in Buryatia stole electricity worth 3 million rubles, reported Irina Volk, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Three local residents equipped a truck for mining, placing about 100 cryptocurrency mining devices inside.

The perpetrators involved two other men in the illegal activity, who drove the truck along power lines and illegally connected the equipment to them. The "farmers" managed to cause damage of about 3 million rubles over several days of work, the report says.

All five were detained by police with the support of the Rosgvardia (National Guard). A criminal case has been initiated under Art. 165 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Causing property damage by deception or abuse of trust").

Searches were conducted at the places of residence of the detainees. The police reported that mining equipment worth 6.5 million rubles was seized, as well as records and other items of evidentiary value.

Seized mining equipment. Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

A restraining order in the form of a ban on certain actions was chosen as a preventive measure for the organizers. The other participants in the illegal mining were made to sign a pledge not to leave the place and to behave appropriately.

Last November, it became known that in Dagestan, they hunted for an illegal mining farm on a "Gazelle" van for three months. Power engineers managed to detect it using a quadcopter with a thermal imager.

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