Malaysia: 7,755 arrested for illegal gambling between January to August
Datuk Jonathan bin Yasin, deputy minister of home affairs, has revealed that police arrested 7,755 people between January to August 2021 for involvement in illegal gambling activities.
Malaysia.- Authorities in Malaysia arrested 7,755 people for involvement in illegal gambling operations in the first eight months of the year. Datuk Jonathan bin Yasin, deputy minister of home affairs, said 7,374 raids had been carried out between January to August.
According to The Star, Yasin was asked whether increasing special lottery draws could help curb illegal gambling.
Yasin said: “Based on my personal view, whether it can increase or reduce the number of cases related to illegal gambling, it needs a further study so we can truly identify the reasons behind it.”
He said licenced gambling activities under the domain of the Finance Ministry were not allowed to operate during the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the government when the Covid-19 pandemic started. However, he noted that illegal gambling syndicates still operated, including the drawing of public lotteries coordinated by foreigners from Singapore, Cambodia and China.
5 arrested for illegal gambling
In September, police arrested 5 people during a series of raids related to alleged illegal gambling activities in the Padawan District.
The first raid was carried out at a cafe and ended with the arrest of a woman suspected of being involved in an illegal online gambling operation. Police seized a mobile phone. During the second raid, a man was arrested. He was found with a piece of paper that, according to police, contained login details and passwords for illegal gambling websites.
The third and fourth raids took place at restaurants and ended with the arrests of two men suspected of gambling on illegal websites. The fifth and last raid was at a house where a man was arrested for illegally selling lottery tickets in the district.
According to The Borneo Post, during the last raid, police seized an amount of cash, a portable printer, nine rolls of paper, and betting numbers, which were printed on 16 pieces of paper.
A few days ago, police arrested 10 people during a raid in the North Seberang Perai District. Police found people were watching illegal mahjong and poker games and breaching Covid-19 social distance measures.
