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Malaysian police used a steamroller to crush 1,069 bitcoin mining computers seized in a series of raids, local media reported Friday.
A video posted by the Borneo news outlet Dayak Daily shows the steamroller smashing the rigs to pieces in a parking lot at the police headquarters in the city of Miri.
Police seized the rigs from miners in six separate raids between February and April, Malaysian authorities told CNBC on Monday.
The miners allegedly stole $2 million worth of electricity from Sarawak Energy, a local utility company, to power the rigs, assistant commissioner of Police Hakemal Hawari told CNBC.
The crushed equipment was worth around $1.26 million, police said.
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Six people were arrested on suspicion of stealing electricity from Sarawak Energy, police chief ACP Hakemal Hawari told Malaysian news outlet The Star, adding that they'd been fined nearly $2,000 and jailed for up to eight months.
Electricity thefts by illegal bitcoin mining operators are commonplace across the world. Ukraine police recently seized around 9,000 games consoles and computers in an illegal crypto mine that police said was stealing as much as $259,300 in electricity each month.
Police said that three houses had burned down recently because of illegal electric connections linked to mining operations. They said that miners had stolen $21.3 million worth of electricity in the country in the past year.
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