Russian police dismantle a hidden farm active since 2018: energy stolen by tampering with meters.
According to RBC, Russian police have carried out one of the country’s largest seizures of Bitcoin mining equipment in recent history, confiscating over 2,700 machines from a clandestine facility located in St. Petersburg.
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation spokesperson Irina Volk stated that three St. Petersburg residents had signed a contract seven years ago to connect a commercial property to the power grid. What appeared to be a legitimate business activity was in fact hiding one of the region’s largest illegal mining operations.
The facility operated undisturbed from March 2018 until August 2025, when the energy authorities began to suspect irregularities in its power consumption. Preliminary investigations revealed significant discrepancies between meter readings and actual consumption recorded on the grid.
The police raid
The operation was documented through videos shared on the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ official Telegram channel. The footage shows officers forcing open sealed containers, inside which thousands of active mining devices were found.
The containers not only housed the machines but also fully functional cooling and ventilation systems. Investigators uncovered multiple containers on the site, as well as adjacent buildings containing additional racks of hundreds of devices.
Authorities believe the suspects used advanced technical knowledge of electrical systems to tamper with metering equipment. This manipulation allowed the meters to record minimal usage, enabling the operators to pay only a tiny fraction of the actual energy consumed to sustain the mining activity.
During the seizure, law enforcement confiscated the entire set of mining equipment, along with two industrial transformers and all cooling systems. The three suspects were taken into custody on charges of “property damage through deception or abuse of trust.”
Illegal mining on the rise
The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that investigations are ongoing to identify potential accomplices. Although details on the total amount of stolen energy have not been disclosed, this case represents just one example of a growing phenomenon.
In mid-September, Russian police dismantled a network of illegal mining centers in Moscow-controlled territories in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Operators had connected 25 devices directly to the power grid, bypassing meters and causing estimated damages of 14 million rubles (around $170,000).
Illegal mining is particularly widespread in the North Caucasus and Southern Siberia, regions where electricity has historically been more accessible and less expensive.
