泰国官员在停电后突击搜查非法比特币矿

这张照片插图显示了比特币的物理表示

Thai authorities on Sunday said they busted an illegal bitcoin mine west of Bangkok after residents complained of frequent blackouts in the area for more than a month.

泰国当局周日表示，在居民抱怨该地区一个多月以来频繁停电后，他们捣毁了曼谷西部的一个非法比特币矿场。

Police and officials from the Provincial Electricity Authorities (PEA) raided the house in Ratchaburi town on Friday.

周五，警方和省电力局（PEA）官员突击搜查了拉差布里镇的这所房子。

“We found bitcoin mining rigs, pointing to people using this house to operate a mine and using power they didn’t fully pay for,” Jamnong Chanwong, a chief district security officer, told AFP.

地区首席安全官贾姆农·查旺 (Jamnong Chanwong) 告诉法新社：“我们发现了比特币采矿设备，表明有人使用这所房子来经营矿场，并使用他们没有全额支付的电力。”

He said records showed that electricity consumption in the house was large, but they had paid for very little of it.

他说，记录显示，房子里的用电量很大，但他们支付的电费却很少。

Mining virtual currencies such as bitcoin requires powerful computers that consume huge amounts of electricity.

开采比特币等虚拟货币需要消耗大量电力的强大计算机。

Bitcoin miners are considered manufacturers in Thailand and must pay associated taxes, but illegal mining has been on the rise for years.

比特币矿机在泰国被视为制造商，必须缴纳相关税款，但非法采矿多年来一直在增加。

Jamnong said his team tried to enter the house on Thursday but a guard denied them entry. They then returned with a search warrant and found most of the equipment had been moved.

贾姆农说，他的团队周四试图进入这所房子，但一名警卫拒绝他们进入。然后他们带着搜查令返回，发现大部分设备已被移动。

He said the house had been rented by a company for around four months, but the power outages began mid-July when the mine likely became fully operational.

他说，这所房子已被一家公司租了大约四个月，但停电是从七月中旬开始的，当时矿井可能已经全面投入运营。

No-one was arrested during the raid, he added.

他补充说，突袭期间没有人被捕。

It was the fourth time this year that authorities have raided an illegal bitcoin mine in Ratchaburi province.

这是当局今年第四次突击搜查叻丕府的一个非法比特币矿场。