Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman
KUALA LUMPUR: As of Oct 31, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) received 973 complaints of illegal gambling activities from the public since the 24-hour operations room and hotline were launched on July 20.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said of these, 456 complaints were valid and resulted in raids while 264 comprised information which were baseless or false.
“Another 253 contained information with merit and needed further investigation before action can be taken,” he said in reply to a question from Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) at the Dewan Rakyat sitting yesterday.
Azis said the initiative had a positive impact on the government’s efforts to fight illegal gambling activities which resulted in a drop in the trend of these crimes,
He said PDRM also conducted intelligence on new modus operandi which could be used by the syndicates to conduct illegal gambling activities.
“At the same time, strict action will be taken against police staff who are involved with the gambling syndicates or are protecting them,” he said.
On online gambling activities, Mohd Azis said these were a challenge as their operations centres were overseas, but the ministry together with the Communications and Multimedia Ministry will continue efforts to curb these activities including reviewing the acts on online gambling. — Bernama