Police cripple major syndicate

In the bag: Police standing at the entrance of a gambling outlet at the complex after the raid.

KUALA LUMPUR: A major gambling syndicate was crippled by the police after a series of raids in a shopping centre here.

The raids were carried out at six premises simultaneously at the Kotaraya complex by the Special Task Force On Organised Crime (STAFOC) at around 10pm on Monday.

Federal Secret Societies, Gambling and Vice Division (D7) principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Roslee Chik said the raid saw 10 people arrested, including a Myanmar woman, all believed to be running the dens.

“Another 10 individuals, including two foreign women, were arrested under suspicion of illegal gambling,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Police also seized 153 computers, 31 gaming machines, 750 gambling chips, and cash amounting to RM2,203 in the operation codenamed Ops Dadu that targeted premises located on the fourth floor of the shopping centre.

Six officers were assigned to oversee raids at each of the gambling dens in the operation that ended at around 2.30am yesterday.