Mexican federal prosecutors, the Navy and Puebla state police seized about 300 cryptocurrency mining rigs during a raid on a property in Tlaola, in the state’s remote Sierra Norte region. Authorities said the site was drawing electricity illegally from a federal hydroelectric complex supplied by the Nuevo Necaxa dam.

The operation was announced by Puebla’s state security ministry on Sunday. Officers also confiscated transformers, medium-voltage terminals and functioning satellite internet antennas from the property in Tlaola, a municipality of roughly 20,000 people.

El País and Mexico News Daily reported that the seized machines were GPUs. That would indicate the facility was mining cryptocurrencies that can still be produced with graphics cards, rather than Bitcoin, which is generally mined with specialized application-specific integrated circuits.

En Tlaola, un inmueble presuntamente utilizado para minería de criptomonedas fue asegurado por @FGRMexico , @SEMAR_mx y Seguridad Pública Estatal del @Gob_Puebla . Se localizó infraestructura eléctrica, internet satelital y equipos especializados en generación de activos… pic.twitter.com/lfgKk3pY3s — Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (@SSPGobPue) September 6, 2026

Cryptocurrency mining is legal in Mexico, but prosecutors are preparing an electricity-theft charge in connection with the facility. The investigation therefore centers on the alleged power connection and use of electrical infrastructure, rather than on cryptocurrency mining as an activity itself.

“Mining consumes a great deal of energy and generates a lot of noise, which is why operators seek out isolated and very remote locations. That is what alerted us,” state security minister Francisco Sánchez told reporters.

Investigators had been tracking reports of illegal mining in the region because of its proximity to the Nuevo Necaxa dam, Sánchez said. “There was a very large power connection,” he added.

Sánchez described the property as part of a network exploiting the Sierra Norte’s hydroelectric infrastructure. He said similar activity was taking place in neighboring states and that searches had been extended to nearby municipalities.

Forensic accountants examine funding

Money laundering has not been ruled out. According to reports in local media, forensic accountants are tracing who financed the mining hardware. The state government is also examining whether assets produced at the site were used to launder proceeds from criminal activity. Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission is participating in the investigation.

The utility reported 6,346 gigawatt hours in non-technical losses from theft, meter tampering and illegal connections between January and July 2024. It valued those losses at about 13.8 billion pesos ($817 million).

Authorities dismantled three other mining operations in Puebla and neighboring Tlaxcala in 2025. A mining farm discovered near the same dam last year was allegedly operated from properties belonging to the electrical workers’ union.

Mexico is not the only country investigating electricity theft linked to cryptocurrency mining. Malaysian authorities seized more than 75,000 rigs last year in a power-theft crackdown that the country’s utility valued at $1.1 billion. Brazilian police also shut down an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation in Rio de Janeiro.