SIBU: Sibu police have raided 169 cyber gambling centres so far this year – five times more than the number of raids they carried out in the corresponding period last year.
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who disclosed this yesterday, said from the 169 cases, 74 would be brought to court.
“The police are thankful to Sesco for its collaboration in the raids,” he told a press conference after presenting awards to national heroes at Kingwood Hotel here.
Wan Junaidi said Sesco had disconnected power supply to some of the gambling centres and so far there had been no application for power re-connection.
He advised property owners to ensure that there was written agreement with their tenants that the premises rented out were not for illegal activities.
He said an enactment that provided for the seizure of properties used for cyber gambling might be put in place if cyber gambling remained rampant.
Wan Junaidi said cases of blackmailing seemed to be on the increase though crime cases here in general had plummeted.
He noted that phone calls and texting were the main mode in blackmailing cases.
“It’s very hard to trace as the perpetrators used prepaid card. Which means, they pay first, once used, they discard it, and our main problem is that most agents, do not register the buyers as required by the law and the government,” he said.
He said the government required every SIM card buyer to register name, identification card and real address before getting the prepaid card.