Police from Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau and officials from the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) raided a shop house in Mae Taeng district of Chiang Mai today (Tuesday) and found 38 cryptocurrency mining machines and 12 items of related equipment.

The raid was in response to a request from the PEA in Mae Taeng district, after officials became suspicious that the property in Khi Lek sub-district might be stealing electricity. It was discovered that the electricity meter had been tampered with and the readings were unusually low.

A man in the shop house at the time of the raid, identified only as “Anucha”, was taken into police custody for questioning, during which he admitted that he had been tampering with the meter for about a year.

PEA officials estimate that electricity worth about one million had been stolen during period.