Tomsk prosecutors approved the indictment in a criminal case on large-scale theft of electricity. Local miners illegally connected to the power grid and stole electricity worth 24 million rubles.

In the summer of 2019, seven Tomsk residents aged 28 to 66 carried out illegal tie-ins into the electrical network, laid cables and connected their own transformers. Mining equipment and the hotel building were powered by stolen electricity, the owner of which created an organized criminal group.

The theft of electricity continued until April 2022, when specialists from the power company discovered the tie-in. The police managed to arrest the criminals. Prosecutors are charged under paragraphs “a” and “b” of part 2 of article 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Causing property damage by deceit or breach of trust.” The case will be considered by the court of the Oktyabrsky district of Tomsk, and the criminals face up to 5 years in prison.

Recently it was reported that the court ordered a resident of Moscow to pay at higher rates for electricity, which she used for mining in the village of Ust-Ordynsky, Irkutsk region.