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Police in Kazakhstan arrest gang forcing IT specialists to run crypto farms – Mining Bitcoin News
Law enforcement in Kazakhstan arrested members of a criminal group suspected of forcing IT experts to run underground cryptocurrency mining facilities using threats and extortion. The racketeers are said to have earned up to half a million US dollars a month from their business.
Kazakhstan busts illegal cryptomining organization, arrests dozens
The authorities of Kazakhstan have arrested a group of “criminally oriented individuals” and ex-convicts who pressured people with knowledge of information and crypto-technology to operate illegal installations for the production of cryptocurrency. Many of the 23 people arrested had a background in debt collection and extortion, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement this week.
The gang had estimated profits in the range of $300,000 to $500,000 each month as a result of their unauthorized crypto mining activities, the department further revealed. During the search, police found a number of weapons, including pistols, ammunition and a Kalashnikov assault rifle. One of the gang members turned out to be a military official.
Investigators were able to determine that the enterprise was quite sophisticated, an indication that the group was not working entirely on its own, the Eurasianet news outlet noted in a report. In recent months, it has emerged that major mining operations in Kazakhstan were linked to high-ranking officials and powerful businessmen, added the online portal covering developments in the region.
Kazakhstan became a hotspot for crypto mining after China cracked down on the industry last May. Mining companies were attracted by their low electricity prices, but their influx caused a growing energy deficit. The Nur-Sultan government responded by taking steps to reduce consumption in the sector by cutting power supplies to licensed miners on a number of occasions, increasing a tax levy and going after illegal miners.
This spring, Finanstilsynet discovered and closed more than 100 underground mines. Commenting on the offensive, the agency noted that among its operators were firms associated with Bolat Nazarbayev, brother of Kazakhstan’s ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Alexander Klebanov who heads the Central Asian Electricity Corporation.
Some of the other closed facilities were linked to Kairat Sharipbayev, who is the former chairman of the national gas distribution company Qazaqgaz and is believed to be married to Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, Dariga. Yerlan Nigmatulin, brother of the former speaker of the lower house of parliament, is also suspected of profiting from unauthorized mining, the report said.
Do you expect Kazakhstan to continue cracking down on cryptocurrency mining? Tell us in the comments section below.
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