A traffic police officer in Saratov lost his job due to mining at the workplace writes RBC with reference to the press service of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Material damage from the illegal activities of the policeman amounted to 231 thousand rubles.
The Saratov traffic police department had to overpay for the electricity. In October, a criminal case was opened against the former police officer under Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Excessive powers”). According to the Investigative Committee, at the moment the investigation has been completed and the case has been transferred to the court – a law enforcement officer who has lost his job is facing imprisonment from three to ten years.
A former traffic police officer installed and connected two cryptocurrency miners in a temporarily unused police building and From February to July 2021, he was secretly engaged in the production of coins. The mining farm was discovered only at the moment when the management of the traffic police drew attention to the inflated electricity bills. A search of the premises used by the former policeman also found a router and power supplies belonging to the police department.
The power consumption of mining is becoming an increasingly urgent problem for Russia. In October, the Governor of the Irkutsk Region Igor Kobzev complained about the underground cryptocurrency miners – he noted the “avalanche-like increase in energy consumption” in the region, the level of which has already increased tenfold compared to 2019. According to Kobzev, power grids may not be able to withstand such a load.