App-related crime: Some of the accused heading to the Johor Baru Court Complex.
JOHOR BARU: A total of 18 Chinese nationals have been charged with allegedly working at a call centre involved in online gambling activities.
The accused are Liu Xiang Long, 34; Li Xinpo, 35; Li Yuncheng, 26; He Hui, 30; Chou Chia Chun, 40; Lu Zaitian, 42; Zhou Xin, 35; Wang Kun, 39; and Yu Jiang, 37.
The others are Yang Kai, 34; Jin Zhe, 37; Chen Xiping, 36; Zhou Wei, 38; Xie Jicheng, 39; Lian Wenjun, 32; Huang Longwang, 31; Xiang Chengwei, 33; and Mo Huaixian, 37.
They claimed trial after the charge was read out in Mandarin before magistrate Hidayatul Syuhada Shamsudin.
According to the charge sheet, all the accused were criminal accomplices who agreed to commit a gambling app-related crime.
The offence was allegedly committed at a high-rise along Jalan Forest City 1 near the Tanjung Pelepas highway at Iskandar Puteri on Nov 27 at around 12pm.
They were charged under Section 4B(b) of the Common Gaming Houses Act and can be sentenced under 120B(2) of the Penal Code.
Hidayatul Syuhada set bail at RM5,000 with two Malaysian sureties per accused, alongside passport surrender and regular police check-ins.
She also set Jan 9 next year for the next mention.
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Aishah Latif prosecuted while lawyer Nur Helmi A. Halim represented all of the accused.
Johor Police Chief Comm Datuk M. Kumar confirmed the arrest of 71 individuals from two call centres in Iskandar Puteri during raids on Nov 27.
“We suspect that the first racket has been active since early November while the second has been operating since October, targeting victims in Malaysia and overseas,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Comm Kumar said the first syndicate is believed to have developed and sold online gambling apps locally and abroad.
“The second syndicate used a two-tier system, where their first-tier staff posed as customer service agents to approach potential victims through mobile messaging apps with easy job opportunities that pay US$100 (RM445) to US$800 (RM3,576) per task.
“The first-tier would ask for the victim’s name, age and country of origin. If the victim responds, they are referred to second-tier agents providing further ‘opportunities’,” Comm Kumar said, adding that the syndicate targets victims in Russia and India.
