Mexico Cracks Down on Illicit Crypto Mining Operation
Mexico's state security ministry announced that federal prosecutors, the Navy, and Puebla state police raided a property in Tlaola, in the Sierra Norte region of Mexico. The operation targeted an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation that was drawing power from a hydroelectric complex fed by the Nuevo Necaxa dam.
The authorities seized 300 crypto mining rigs, transformers, medium-voltage terminals, and working satellite internet antennas during the raid. According to state security minister Francisco Sánchez, investigators tracked reports of illegal mining in the region due to its proximity to the dam and a large power connection.
Sánchez described the site as part of a network exploiting the Sierra Norte's hydroelectric infrastructure, with similar activity happening in neighboring states. The Mexican Federal Electricity Commission is taking part in the investigation, which also involves tracing who funded the hardware and examining whether assets produced there were used to launder proceeds of crime.
The operation comes after three other mining operations were dismantled across the state and neighboring Tlaxcala in 2025, and a farm found near the same dam last year was allegedly run out of properties belonging to the electrical workers' union. Mexico isn't the only country wrestling with electricity theft by crypto miners, with similar raids taking place around the globe.