JOHOR BARU, Dec 10 — Police crippled a 24-hour online gambling syndicate’s centre with the arrest of five Indonesian men during a raid at a house in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah here yesterday.
Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the suspects, aged between 21 and 29, acted as credit top-up and online gambling credit withdrawal operators.
He said initial investigations revealed that the syndicate has been operating since March this year.
“The raid was carried out as a result of public information followed by a month-long intelligence gathering conducted by the police.
“Checks showed that the gated and guarded premises is used as an online gambling centre (or commonly called call centre) that offers online gambling games through three websites.
“The syndicate targets local customers with a collection value of between RM3,000 to RM10,000 a day. If the average is calculated since March, the syndicate’s profit is worth millions of ringgit,” said Ayob Khan during a media conference held at the Johor police contingent headquarters here today.
He added that all transactions were made through online banking from several local bank accounts that have been identified.
“All the suspects arrested were paid between RM2,000 and RM3,000 a month, apart from receiving a commission from RM500 to RM800 based on their respective monthly profits,” explained Ayob Khan.
He said the raiding team also confiscated three laptops, a tablet, 15 mobile phones of various brands, four wireless modems and sets of house keys.
Ayob Khan said further checks showed that five suspects are believed to have entered the country before the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2019 using social visit passes.
He said the passports of all the suspects are held by the syndicate’s agents.
“The suspects work voluntarily because the salary offered was lucrative,” he said, adding that police operatives are still tracking down the syndicate’s main mastermind.
All the suspects have been remanded for four days starting yesterday until this coming Sunday.
The case is being investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Open Gambling House Act 1953.
