Near St. Petersburg, Russian security forces liquidated a mining farm that was illegally connected to the power grid. The Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that the farm consumed 80 million kWh of electricity, which is worth more than 1 billion rubles.
The farm was located in several dozen containers at the Gromovo and Lugovaya railway stations in the Priozersky District of the Leningrad Region. The cryptocurrency mining equipment was seized, according to Irina Volk, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the investigation, several officials from the local office of an unnamed transport company agreed with a group of miners by granting them permission to install equipment at railway traction substations.
During the search, police detained six suspects and seized their computers, bank cards, and 7 million rubles in cash.
Criminal cases have been opened against the suspects for abuse of official authority by a group of persons acting in collusion (Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Two of the suspects have been placed in custody, while the others are under house arrest.
Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia reported that an illegal mining farm located in a hangar on Mitrofanyevskoye Shosse in the industrial zone of the Moscow District had been shut down in St. Petersburg.
