KUCHING: The police are intensifying efforts to crack down on all forms of illegal gambling in the state as they executed 10 raids against illegal lottery operators in Bau, Padawan, Bintulu and Kanowit recently.
State CID chief SAC Dev Kumar said the first raid was conducted in Bintulu on Tuesday following a brawl between two groups conducting illegal lottery sales the night before.
“On April 4 around 8pm, a fight involving two groups occurred outside a cyber cafe at Medan Raya in Bintulu which resulted in two persons sustaining minor head injuries.
“Five suspects involved in the fight have been picked up so far, with information revealing the fight broke out over the amount of prize money being offered by the two rival illegal 4D groups,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Acting on the information gathered from the suspects, a CID team led by Inspector Luqman Hakim raided a telco shop at Jalan Tanjung Batu at 5pm the following day and arrested three suspects, aged between 17 and 27 years.
The police team seized RM650 in cash as well as portable printers, mobile phones and other exhibits relating to the sale of illegal lottery.
The police team then followed up with another raid 30 minutes later at a second telco shop at Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi where four suspects, aged between 22 and 66 years, were arrested.
Seized were RM5,000 in cash, a mini printer, mobile phone, calculator and other exhibits from the suspects used to run their illegal 4D operation.
Dev Kumar disclosed that police continued their crackdown on illegal 4D operations in Bintulu on Wednesday when a team from the state Anti-Vice, Gambling and Gangsterism unit (D7), led by Inspector Khairul Nidzam, raided a coffee shop at Jalan Pedada.
“One suspect, a 44-year-old foreigner, was arrested by the D7 team who also seized RM410 in cash, portable printer, mobile phone, calculator and other exhibits,” he said.