Illegal World Cup betting: 42 held
Published on: Friday, July 20, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah police detained 42 bookies and punters, including three women, in connection with illegal sports betting during the recent World Cup.State Police Commissioner Datuk Ramli Din said police also confiscated a total of RM210,920 in cash from 31 raids throughout the World Cup period in Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau."The suspects, aged between 20 and 60, comprise mostly locals while the rest are foreigners such as Filipinos and Indonesians.
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"We found out that bets for just one football match can reach as high as RM30,000. "Further investigation revealed that there are several bookies who have not been detained yet and we are in the midst of doing a follow-up to apprehend them," he said, adding that the biggest cash seizure was in Penampang with RM127,441.As for slot machines/online gambling, Ramli said, police seized 193 tablets and computers from January to June this year, adding that the current trend is to conduct gambling activities in rural areas using mobile phones."Our most recent raid for this gambling category was at an unnumbered house at Kg Tunuh in Penampang, Tuesday midnight, where we nabbed five bookies and players aged between 22 and 56 comprising a Filipino and four locals. Also seized were RM1,500 in cash, 10 tablet phones and one laptop.
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"Investigations revealed that the place had just started operating for one week and the perpetrators carried out their operations in secret, only allowing close acquaintances to gamble at the place," he said.Ramli added that police also carried out operations to combat illegal lottery gambling (such as 4-D) where 262 people were arrested in 186 raids, following 385 inspections in various districts.
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He said 250 other people were also nabbed for other forms of gambling such as "wahui" and "ketam-ketam", etc, adding that all the cases are being investigated under Section 6(1) and Section 6(3) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953.On a different note, Ramli said police through "Ops Noda" arrested 380 people from January to June this year, with 70 of the figure comprising 52 foreigners and 18 locals suspected to be involved in prostitution activities.Meanwhile, Ramli said the State recorded a decrease of 186 crime cases or 6.3 per cent, with a recorded 2,751 cases from January to June this year compared to last year's 2,937 cases in the same period last year.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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