Nine suspects caught for illegal online gambling

KUCHING  (Sept 22): Police arrested five foreigners and four locals for suspected involvement in an illegal online gambling at a bungalow in Taman Stutong Indah here on Monday.

Kuching police chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah said during the noon raid on the bungalow, personnel from Kuching police headquarters the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) arrested the suspects aged between 18 and 31 years old.

“The raid was made based on intelligence and information gathering conducted by Kuching police and NCID.

“All nine suspects worked as operators manning online gambling, which had been in operations for the past six months, and they were receiving monthly salary of RM1,500 each per month and bonuses depending on the syndicate’s profit,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“Apart from manning the online gambling, the suspects were asked to promote online gambling via social media such as WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Skype and Facebook.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that this centre operated 24-hours for the past six months,” he said.

Ahsmon also said based on the syndicate’s records and transactions, they were making around RM2,000 a day or RM60,000 a month.

He added they were still looking for the owner of the bungalow.

During the raid, police confiscated various equipment such as seven computer monitors and central processing units, eight mobile phones, routers and modems.

“We have opened investigation papers under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953. The foreigners were arrested under Section 51(5)(b) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, while the local suspects are being remanded from today (Sept 21) to 24,” he said.