Bitcoin miners were arrested in two Chinese cities on charges of stealing electricity. This is reported by CoinDesk.

In the first case, 6 people were detained in Tianjin. The suspects used 600 devices for mining bitcoins that were connected to a local substation. The police claim that the connection was made bypassing the counters.

The investigation was initiated after one of the electric power companies discovered a discrepancy between the actual and claimed consumption of electricity.

The police seized all equipment for mining, as well as 8 powerful fans.

Events are taking place while China continues to play a dominant role in the mining of bitcoin, despite the pressure on the cryptocurrencies. As Xinhua notes, this case of electricity theft turned out to be the largest in recent years.

According to another report, which appeared today on the website of the Supreme Prosecutor of China, two more suspects were detained in Wuhan. They also stole electricity.

The detainees used empty stores since March 2017 to house miners and did not pay for electricity, as did the defendants from Tianjin.