Mexico is expanding its search for illegal crypto mining operations after authorities dismantled a secret site in rural northern Puebla that allegedly used electricity siphoned from the Nuevo Necaxa dam. Local media said Puebla’s Public Security Secretariat plans to extend the hunt into neighboring states as officials try to curb large-scale power theft linked to unauthorized mining. Francisco Sánchez, head of the agency, said these operations consume heavy amounts of electricity and create significant noise, which is why operators tend to choose isolated and remote locations. Authorities in Puebla also suspect the dismantled mine may have been used to legitimize and launder proceeds from other illegal activity. The Protos report also noted a separate Mexico case involving bitcoin. Prosecutors believe the killings of Jonathan Meléndez, his pregnant wife Ana Paula Barragán, their three-year-old daughter Sofía, and 21-year-old nanny Aleyda Romero were motivated by a BTC stash the attackers believed was worth millions of dollars. Diego Sebastián N and Gerardo N were arrested on September 2. Prosecutors said no BTC was taken, and a later witness account referred to a device holding 3 million pesos in crypto, or about $177,000.

Mexican federal prosecutors, the navy and police in Puebla state seized about 300 cryptocurrency mining machines in the mountain municipality of Tlaola in northern Puebla, according to an Odaily report citing Decrypt. Authorities also recovered transformers, medium-voltage connection terminals and a functional satellite internet antenna during the operation. Investigators suspect the site was drawing electricity illegally from federal hydroelectric infrastructure supplied by the Nuevo Necaxa dam. Crypto mining itself is legal in Mexico, but prosecutors are preparing charges tied to electricity theft. Puebla Security Minister Francisco Sánchez said investigators followed leads on illegal mining because the location was close to the Nuevo Necaxa dam and found a very large power connection at the site. Authorities have not ruled out money laundering. Forensic accountants are tracing the source of funds used to acquire the machines, while the state government is also checking whether any mining proceeds were used to launder criminal income. Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission has joined the probe. From January to July 2024, non-technical losses from power theft, meter tampering and illegal hookups reached about 6.346 billion kilowatt-hours, worth roughly 1.38 billion pesos.

Mexican federal prosecutors, working with the navy and police in Puebla state, raided a property in the remote mountain municipality of Tlaola and seized about 300 cryptocurrency mining machines, according to Decrypt. Authorities also confiscated equipment including transformers, medium-voltage terminals and a satellite internet antenna. Investigators said the mining site had been illegally connected to the grid of the Nuevo Necaxa hydroelectric plant. Prosecutors have already filed charges over alleged electricity theft. The case has not stopped there: forensic accountants are now tracing the source of funding used to acquire the hardware, and money laundering has not been ruled out. The report comes against a broader backdrop of power losses in Mexico. Data from the country’s Federal Electricity Commission showed that non-technical electricity losses totaled 6,346 gigawatt-hours between January and July 2024, with an estimated value of 13.8 billion pesos, or about $817 million.

Mexican authorities have seized 300 crypto mining machines from a property in Tlaola, Puebla, after investigators said the site was illegally drawing electricity from a federal hydroelectric complex in the Sierra Norte region. The operation involved federal prosecutors, the Navy, and Puebla state police, according to the state security ministry. Officers also confiscated transformers, medium-voltage terminals, and functioning satellite internet antennas. Local reports cited by El País and Mexico News Daily described the machines as GPUs, suggesting the operation may have been mining tokens that can still be produced with graphics cards rather than Bitcoin. Mining itself is legal in Mexico, but prosecutors are preparing an electricity theft case. State Security Minister Francisco Sánchez said the site drew attention because mining consumes large amounts of power and generates heavy noise, which often pushes operators into remote areas. Investigators linked the probe to reports from a zone near the Nuevo Necaxa dam and said the site appeared to be part of a broader network exploiting hydroelectric infrastructure. Authorities have not ruled out money laundering. Forensic accountants are tracing the funding behind the hardware, while Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission is assisting in the investigation.