Raid on illegal online gambling operation in Kuching nets 13 foreigners
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KUCHING (Aug 2): Police arrested 13 foreigners during an illegal online gambling raid at a Jalan Airport house yesterday (Aug 1).
Kuching police chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah said during the 5.30pm raid on the double-storey house, police arrested 11 men and two women aged between 18 and 42, all of whom did not have valid work permits.
“The raid was made based on intelligence and information gathered beforehand by police from Kuching District police headquarters together with Sungai Maong and Tabuan Jaya police stations. All 13 arrested were illegal immigrants.
“All of them worked as operators manning online gambling, which has been in operations for the last six months, and were receiving a monthly salary of RM1,500 each per month,” he told a press conference today.
He said besides a monthly salary, the workers were also entitled to bonuses depending on the syndicate’s profit margins.
“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 made revealed that this centre was operating 24 hours for the last six months,” he said.
Ahsmon also said based on the syndicate’s records and transactions, the operation was making around RM3,500 per day or RM630,000 in total.
During the raid, police confiscated various equipment used for online gambling such as six computer monitors and central processing units, six mobile phones, routers, and modems.
“We have opened the investigation papers under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, and at the same time all of the suspects were arrested under Section 51(5)(b) of the Immigration Act 1959/63,” he said.
From June until yesterday, Ahsmon said 14 illegal online gambling raids had been made around Kuching, involving gross profits of over RM15 million and the arrests of 40 locals and 32 illegal immigrants — 52 men and 20 women.
“Out of the total 72 suspects arrested, 34 have been charged in court.
“The police under ‘Ops Dadu’ will continue to curb illegal online gambling activities, which are causes loses to our economy in the aspects of licensing and taxes,” he added.
