KUCHING: Sixty-six people were arrested by police for promoting public lottery without a licence, conducting online gambling and gambling in a public place in 30 raids in 12 districts in Sarawak last week.
State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief, SAC Dato’ Dev Kumar Sree Shunmugam said 23 of the raids were against illegal lottery (4D), six raids against cyber gambling and one raid against gambling in a public place.
The raids were conducted by teams from CID HQ and district CID units. There were five raids conducted by CID Headquarters in Kuching. Other than that CID Kuching, CID Miri and CID Sri Aman conducted four raids each, CID Padawan three raids; two raids each by CID Sibu and CID Bintulu, followed by one raid each by CID Kota Samarahan, CID Limbang, CID Sarikei, CID Marudi, CID Lubok Antu and CID Belaga.
The 23 raids on illegal 4D sellers resulted in the arrests of 31 individuals and seizure of cash amounting to RM9,943. Mobile phones, portable printers, betting slips, calculators and stationeries were also seized.
Apart from illegal 4D raids, six raids were conducted at cyber gambling outlets in Miri, Sri Aman and Lubok Antu that resulted in the arrests of 28 individuals and seizure of RM2,465 along with 60 computers, laptops and tablets used for cyber gambling.
Last Sunday, a team from CID HQ conducted a raid under the Tun Salehuddin Bridge in Kampung Bintawa and detained seven individuals for gambling in a public place.
Of the 66 arrested including two foreigners, 47 were males while the rest were females. They were aged between 18 and 65 years old.
All those arrested are being investigated for offences under the Common Gaming House Act 1953.
