A police photo showing the three suspects and the seized items after their arrest last night.
KUCHING (Sept 25): Three men were arrested at around 10pm on Friday night after they were found allegedly working as operators for an illegal online gambling call centre.
Padawan district police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan said that a raid was carried out at a rented apartment in Jalan Stapok Utama by personnel from the Sarawak Police Contingent Headquarters and district police headquarters.
“It is believed that the call centre started operating around three months ago and had been making about RM45,000 in monthly profits,” said Aidil in a statement today.
He added that the suspects, all locals aged 20, 21 and 24 years old, are being investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953.
“They work around the clock on shifts everyday and stay at the apartment. They also receive RM1,500 a month,” said Aidil.
During the raid, police seized one computer set, three smartphones and one internet WiFi router.
The call centre was set up in the apartment’s living room while the other three rooms are used by the suspects to rest.
On the modus operandi of the call centre, Aidil said that online gambling customers will transfer money into the syndicate’s bank account.
The syndicate will then notify the suspects via SMS, Whatsapp or Telegram to provide the customer with a unique ID and password to access the gambling website.
Police have identified six gambling websites namely 918Kiss, Mega888, Pussy 888, XE 888, Newtown and Joker which are linked to the call centre.
Aside from providing customers access to the websites, the operators also act as promoters of these websites using the seized smartphones.