Suspected crypto mining operation gutted by fire in Phuket Town

The fire broke out on the third floor of a building near the Thailand Post branch on Bangkok Rd at about 6am yesterday (June 25), reported the Phuket Info Center.

Firefighters soon arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished the blaze.

No people were reported injured from the fire.

On the third floor of the building firefighters found racks of computer equipment that had been destroyed by the fire. 

The equipment was of the same type seized in operations elsewhere throughout the country in crackdowns on illegal crypto mining operations.

Also found at the scene were piles of spare computer parts, including graphics cards.

Police have yet to comment on any investigation into the fire, or the suspected crypto mining operation.

A major illegal cryptocurrency mining operation discovered in Samut Prakan last month was believed to have used an estimated B500 million a month in stolen electricity.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin in December last year revealed that about 3,500 mining devices that illegally consumed electricity had been seized from 41 rented buildings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi. The hardware was believed to have been smuggled from China.

The crypto miners were connected directly to outside power lines and over the previous two years had illegally drained about B500 million of electricity from the state grid, said Mr Somsak.

The crypto miners had earned about B35 per device per day. Over the two years, they generated about B100 million, the justice minister said.