KUCHING: Police have crippled three online gambling call centres with the arrest of 22 individuals in a week.

The call centres had raked in over RM810,000 in profits after three to six months of operation.

The ‘Ops Dadu Khas’ swoop by the Kuching Criminal Investigation Division (CID) D7 branch, was made between Jan 4 and 9.

On Monday (Jan 9), Kuching police chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah said the raids were carried out at Tabuan Tranquility (Jan 4), Jalan Song (Jan 7) and Jalan Stutong (Jan 9).

“The first raid was on a semi-detached house and four local men and three Indonesians were arrested.

“The second raid involved a condominium unit and eight Indonesians – seven men and a woman – were arrested.

“Meanwhile, the third raid on Sunday (Jan 9) was made on an apartment where six Indonesian men and a local woman were arrested,” he said, adding that 17 of the suspects were Indonesians and five locals.

He said two of the locals were the organisers behind the call centres with the rest hired as operators to promote online gambling to locals via calls and social media.

During the raids police also seized computers, monitors, Internet routers, modems and other equipment used for the activities for investigation purposes.

“All 22 suspects will be investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, which provides for a fine of up to RM50,000 and up to three years imprisonment.

“They will also be fined up to RM50,000 for each online gambling machine seized if found guilty.

“Aside from that, the foreigners are also being investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63,” Ahsmon said.

He added that ‘Ops Dadu Khas’ will be continued to combat illegal gambling.

Also present was his deputy Supt Merbin Lisa and Kuching CID chief DSP Mohd Hafizi Ishak.