Melaka police chief Abdul Majid Mohd Ali has called for anyone with information on the man, Tan Joe Pheng, to inform the police. He urged Tan to surrender to the nearest police station.

He said police have also detained Tan’s brother and sister and four others, aged 29 to 39. The Tan siblings were acting as accountant and manager of the Bitcoin mining activities, Majid said.

He said the police also raided six premises, two each in Melaka Tengah, Alor Gajah and Jasin districts which were used to carry out the activities and seized 317 Bitcoin mining machines and various other equipment as well as 38 keys believed to be for the premises in Melaka.

In a separate development, he said four men aged between 25 and 60 were arrested over four cases involving setting fire and 17 cases of dousing paint on victims of unlicensed money lenders or ‘Ah Longs’ since 2019.

He said the men were paid between RM200 and RM300 to spray paint and RM500 for setting fire to the houses of defaulters and their neighbours with the intention of defaming the borrowers.

“All the men were arrested separately around the Melaka Tengah district on March 10 and various items used to commit the offences were also seized.

“Investigations found that all the suspects arrested were hired by an ‘ah long’ who operates in Johor via online by using Facebook and WhatsApp. Even the communication and payment transactions between them were done virtually,” he said.