KUCHING: Seven individuals including two Indonesians were arrested by the police for allegedly operating two illegal online gambling call centres in two separate raids last Monday (Nov 2).
Padawan district police chief, Supt Aidil Bolhassan explained that the first raid took place at a semi-detached house at Jalan Batu Kawa, Desa Wira around 5.30pm.
A Padawan Crime Investigation Division (CID) police team arrested five locals — four men and a woman aged 19 to 28 — who will be investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming House Act 1953.
“This syndicate is believed to have been operating the call centre for about a year at the location.
“Apart from that, the syndicate made about RM5,000 per day and each worker received a salary of RM1,400 per month,” Aidil said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the second raid took place at a rented terrace house at Mile 17, Jalan Kuching-Serian around 7.15pm.
Aidil said the team arrested an Indonesian couple aged 35 and 41, who had been operating an online gambling call centre for about a year.
He said the syndicate made about RM10,000 per day and each worker received a salary of RM1,000 to RM1,500 per month.
The couple will be investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming House Act 1953, Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 15(1)(c) of the same Act 1959/63.
“In both raids, the police teams seized five monitors, two central processing units (CPUs), keyboards, computer mice, ten mobile phones, a laptop, modems, chairs and tables.
“Both syndicates used the premises to hide from authorities. Each operator is supplied with a smartphone and a computer by the syndicate,” added Aidil.
According to him, each amount of bet will be credited by the customer to several syndicate bank accounts and a bank slip will be sent via text or WhatsApp to the operator’s phone.
