The gang stole electricity worth more than 20 million yuan to mine Bitcoin

The reporter recently learned from the People's Procuratorate of Dantu District, Zhenjiang City that the Procuratorate recently handled a criminal gang that stole state electricity to mine Bitcoin. More than 20 criminal suspects used nearly 4,000 devices to steal electricity worth up to 20 million yuan. It is reported that this case is the largest electricity theft case in Jiangsu Province since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In March 2019, the Zhenjiang Power Supply Company reported to the public security authorities that the line loss rate of many 10kV lines in Xinfeng Town, Dantu District, had increased sharply since December 2018. The bureau then conducted a comparative analysis of the power consumption information collection system and the marketing business application system and found that there may be major power theft in the area.
According to the investigation by the public security organs, as the transaction price of Bitcoin increased significantly, between March 2017 and May 2019, Lan, Mao A, Li, Ye, Mao B, Wang, Wang and others successively purchased more than 4,000 bitcoin mining machines, rented 12 factories in Zhenjiang New District and Dantu Xinfeng, Guyang and other places, installed "mining" equipment in batches, hired dozens of Zhejiang fellows and "experienced" non-local personnel from Changzhou, Xuzhou and other places, and slowed down the meters in the distribution rooms at each "mining" equipment placement point by short-circuiting the transformers.
In June 2019, the case was transferred to the Dantu District Procuratorate for review and approval of the arrest. Since the evidence of electricity theft at the scene can be quickly eliminated and the electricity meter can be restored to normal in an instant, it is extremely difficult to discover the specific electricity theft behavior of the criminal gang. In addition, the gang's methods of committing crimes are very covert, and most of the hired personnel are not local people in Zhenjiang. They generally do not communicate with local people, and the surrounding people are not clear about what they are doing specifically, which brings certain difficulties to the handling of the case.
To assist the public security organs in investigation and evidence collection, the case handling team went to the crime scenes in Dantu Xinfeng, Gaoqiao, Guyang, Jiangxin and other places four times, and analyzed and evaluated the daily life patterns and abnormal financial transactions of the Lan and other gangs. They intervened in advance in the investigation of the criminal gang's organizational structure, membership composition, true identities of members, criminal process, and the contact and relationship between the maintenance operators of each "mining area" and "mining machine". They also communicated and discussed the case with the public security organs many times, focusing on the direction of investigation and evidence collection, calculation of the amount of stolen electricity, the severity of the crime, and other issues. They put forward more than 10 opinions and suggestions, forming a complete chain of evidence for the smooth handling of the case.
After on-site appraisal by the Zhenjiang Quality Supervision Department and the power supply company, the gang stole electricity worth nearly 20 million yuan. On June 27, 2019, the court approved the arrest of 13 criminal suspects including Lan Mou based on a comprehensive and detailed review. The case is currently under further investigation. (Legal Daily)