PARIT:Police raided three premises suspected of Bitcoin cryptocurrency mining and tapping electricity illegally around Seri Iskandar here, yesterday afternoon.

Perak Tengah district police chief Supt Barudin Wariso said acting on public information, his team and an operations team from Tenaga Nasional Berhad raided the premises between 4pm and 7pm yesterday.

He said his team detained seven men, in their 20s, who were the premises' caretakers for questioning.

"Preliminary investigations showed that the quantity of electricity consumption at the premises was too high and hence suspicion was aroused as it did not match the normal rate of a business premises' usage.

"Besides that, there were complaints, especially from traders in the building who claimed that there were loud noises permeating from the business that disrupted the shop's operations and the peace of other users," he said in a statement, here, today.

Barudin said in the raid, they seized 154 units of Bitcoin server machines along with power supply, 23 units of Bitcoin dashboards, several rolls of copper wire, two complete sets of computers, and five main electrical power distribution switch boxes.

He said all the suspects were remanded for two days starting today for further investigations.

"Further investigations will be conducted to detect and identify the syndicate's network in an effort to combat irresponsible activities," he said.

He added that the case was being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft and Section 427 of the Penal Code for causing mischief.

-- BERNAMA