MACC hot on the trail of online gambling syndicate and police officers involved

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has a complete list of police personnel and officers involved in protecting the online gambling syndicate that was busted following the arrest of 20 people since last Friday (Oct 2), say sources.

The cartel, which has been in operation over the last two years, offered online gambling, including gambling games on mobile phones.

Sources said the syndicate, which operated out of Bukit Bintang, raked in hundreds of millions of ringgit from online gambling profits.

“Some of the police personnel and officers detained by the MACC recently are believed to be protecting the syndicate.

“In fact, the MACC has a complete list of police personnel and officers involved,” said one source, adding that some have already been called up while the others will be called up soon.

“The cartel was also willing to spend millions of ringgit a month as payments for the police personnel and officers involved to ensure their online gambling activities continued to operate without being raided,” sources said.

Previously, the syndicate had various gambling premises in the Klang Valley, but it shifted to online gambling via mobile phones following large-scale operations against gambling dens.

“With a mobile phone, people do not have to go to a gambling centre to gamble, they can instead do it from home or anywhere else.

“However, their IP addresses can be traced by the authorities,” sources said.

In order to legitimise their ill-gotten gains, syndicate members would invest in businesses ran by celebrities and entrepreneurs, they added.

Another syndicate active in illegal online gambling is the Ah Meng Co syndicate, which has premises in several places including Sungai Buloh.

“The syndicate is also linked with online gambling via WeChat.

“It closed its gambling dens after large-scale enforcement efforts in Sungai Buloh,” sources said.

The Ah Meng Co syndicate's mastermind is believed to have fled to a neighbouring country but its online gambling activity still continues to operate.

“The syndicate also owns a few entertainment outlets in the city.

“It uses such businesses to mask its online gambling profits,” sources said.

Besides the two cartels, other smaller syndicates are also operating in the country.