Denpasar Police arrests nine suspected of online gambling in Kuta

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA) - The Denpasar Police's Criminal Investigation Unit arrested nine people for allegedly conducting online gambling operations from a homestay in Legian, Kuta Sub-district of Badung, Bali Province."We raided (the homestay) on August 17. The police arrested nine suspects, and they are now still under investigation," Denpasar Police Chief Senior Commissioner Bambang Yugo Pamungkas noted here on Friday.All the suspects are non-residents and stayed in Bali since the past few weeks, Pamungkas remarked.The suspects rented four rooms in the homestay. Two of the rooms were used to conduct online gambling operations, while the suspects stayed in two other rooms."It seems that these rooms are soundproof to prevent other occupants from listening in on their activities," he revealed.During the raid, Pamungkas confirmed that the police seized five laptops, eight CPUs, 16 PC monitors, 12 cellular phones, and two Wi-Fi routers.The pieces of evidence were brought to the police's forensics laboratory for further investigation into the online gambling system."We brought the evidence to the forensic laboratory to match them with information from the suspects," he added.Earlier, on August 13, the Denpasar Police uncovered an online gambling activity operated from a hotel room on Kartika Plaza Street, Kuta, based on a tip-off received from the hotel management.The police failed to arrest any suspect, as they had already left the room, though managed to seize computers, cellular phones, Wi-Fi routers, handy talkies, and dozens of sim cards.According to an official of the hotel management, the room was rented by a foreign national for a long term. The hotel staff grew suspicious of their activities after two weeks and filed a report with the police.