Police operations against illegal gambling activities intensified
KUCHING: Police have been intensifying operations against illegal gambling, especially on counters selling illegal four- digit (4D) public lottery tickets and cyber gambling, across the state.
State CID chief SAC Dato Dev Kumar said his men conducted 25 raids over the past week ( March 20-26) which resulted in the arrest of 39 individuals.
“Twenty raids were against illegal 4D operations. These (raids) were conducted by CID teams from the state headquarters and districts,” he said in the statement yesterday.
The 20 raids resulted in the arrest of 29 individuals and seizure of cash amounting to RM10,714.
“Mobile phones, portable printers, calculators and stationery items were also seized,” said Dev, adding that the majority of the raids were conducted here and in Padawan.
Eleven raids, he pointed out, were conducted on public places – mostly the five-foot ways. Eight raids were conducted on shophouses, three on grocery stores and another three on coffee shops.
There were also operations against cyber gambling in Lawas, Limbang, Serian and Marudi which resulted in the arrest of 10 individuals.
Forty computers, tablet computers and video machines suspected to be used for gambling, as well as cash amounting to RM3,440, were confiscated from the raided sites.
Dev said raids in Lawas were conducted by teams from the state CID headquarters, following public complaints about several premises running illegal cyber gambling in the district.
“The CID men raided two outlets, arrested six individuals and seized 13 machines. Of the 39 arrested, 22 are women. All are aged between 17 and 40,” he disclosed.
According to Dev, all those arrested are being investigated for offences under the Common Gaming House Act 1953.
On the breakdown of all 25 raids, he said the teams from state CID headquarters conducted 14 raids in Kuching, Padawan, Kota Samarahan and Lawas, while CID Padawan ran three raids.
“CID Kuching, CID Miri, CID Bintulu, CID Sarikei, CID Serian, CID Marudi, CID Lubok Antu and CID Limbang each conducted one raid.”
Adding on, Dev assured the public that police operation against illegal gambling in the state would be on-going.