Illegal gambling: Padawan council urged to strengthen cooperation with district police
KUCHING: Padawan Municipal Counci l ( MPP) should work closely with Padawan District pol ice to eradicate i l legal gambling activities in areas under its jurisdiction.
Padawan District police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan said the council could assist his men by helping in the verification of licences issued to operators.
He said there were cases where owners of premises resorted to using family entertainment licences as a cover for their illegal gambling activities.
In September last year, MPP chairman Lo Khere Chiang said his office had issued 38 entertainment licences to the fol lowing types of premises: karaoke outlets with 25 licences, cybercafe ( one) , bi l liard or snooker parlours (seven) and indoor amusement centre ( five).
Aidil said close cooperation between the police and MPP could help expedite actions to be taken against illegal gambling operators in court.
“We wi l l cooperat e ful ly with MPP to eradicate illegal gambling activities, especially (in punishing) those who violate the conditions of the licences given to them. We also look forward to working with other local authorities: they can join us during raids on premises suspected to be running illegal gambling,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Aidi l acknowledged that Sarawak Energy Bhd had been giving its full cooperation to the police by cutting off electricity supply at premises after raids to ensure that the illegal activities could not continue there.
The Padawan police chief was responding to a call by the local community for police to address the mushrooming of i l legal gambling dens in areas such as Mile 4, Mile 7/ Kota Sentosa, Mile 9, Mile 10 and Batu Kawah New Township.
According to him, police had conducted 118 raids on illegal gambling premises in Padawan District last year.
During this period, Aidil said his men seized 788 units of computers, tablet computers and other equipment believed to be used for gambling activities. Police also arrested 236 individuals.
“I want to remind owners not to rent their premises to others for gambling activities. They are responsible to know about the activities conducted on their premises and to report to police should they find illegal activities being carried out there,” said Aidil, stressing that the war against illegal gambling in Padawan would continue this year with more raids.
“We have identified the organisers of the illegal gambling activities, and strict action will be taken against them. Action will also be taken against the customers and owners of the premises.”
Aidil said district police would also be focusing on prevention activities to reduce crime cases.
He added that crime prevention activities had been conducted in the form of ‘police omnipresence’ in areas such as Batu Kawah, Jalan Matang, Moyan and Telaga Air.
“We have been deploying administrative police officers to conduct crime prevention patrols between midnight and 6am since June 2016.
“We have also increased the frequency of MPV (mobile patrol vehicle) and URB (motorcycle patrol unit) patrols in Padawan,” he said.