Six men and one woman have been charged with stealing almost €300,000 worth of electricity used in industrial cryptocurrency mining units in the municipalities of Bombarral, Óbidos and Lourinhã, the GNR reports today.
The six men, aged between 39 and 48, and the woman, aged 41, were identified during an investigation in which “an industrial-scale cryptocurrency mining operation was dismantled,” said Hugo Marçal, deputy commander of the GNR detachment in Caldas da Rainha.
A small video over social networks shows exactly what police found. There is little point in saying any of this information is alleged as the video clip would seem to speak for itself.
As Hugo Marçal explains, the group, consisting of four Portuguese nationals and two foreigners, “was engaged in cryptocurrency mining”, an activity that in itself is not a crime – “the illegal aspect was the theft of electricity that they used to generate monetary value through mining.
“By setting up these industrial mining systems, the individuals created electricity connections and stole around €290,000 in electricity alone,” added the GNR chief, specifying that connections were installed in warehouses and residences in the localities of A-dos-Ruivos (in the municipality of Bombarral) and Olho Marinho (in the municipality of Óbidos), both in the district of Leiria, and Reguengo Grande, in the municipality of Lourinhã, in the district of Lisbon.
The investigation, which culminated on Wednesday with the identification of the defendants, began in November after it was “noticed that there was a spike in energy consumption in those locations,” with one of them, A-dos-Ruivos, even experiencing a temporary power outage.
In a statement, the GNR said today that “the power consumption was so high that it caused several distortions and malfunctions in the electricity grid, causing constraints in the supply to populations residing in the localities”.
As part of the operation, the GNR carried out five searches, three at homes and two at warehouses, but, according to Hugo Marçal, “there were no seizures because the illegal situation is solely in the theft of electricity”. With regard to cryptocurrency mining “in Portugal there is still no legal provision criminalising this type of action”, he said.
According to the commander, the cryptocurrency mining was carried out using “highly technological systems”, with “76 processors, interconnected and then connected to the electricity grid” having been identified.
In addition to the theft of electricity, “a large investment is involved, since of these 76 interconnected processors cost between €1,000 and €2,000, each” added Hugo Marçal.
In its statement, the GNR reports that of the seven people charged, five are Portuguese, one Moldovan and one Brazilian. Two of the group have previous convictions for crimes of the same nature.
The GNR operation was supported by E-Redes and reinforced by agents from Bombarral, Óbidos, Peniche and Lourinhã.
Source: LUSA
