Post date: Feb 21, 2014 12:51:44 PM
09 January 2014| last updated at 11:53PM
By FARRAH NAZ KARIM | news@nst.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: ILLEGAL gambling dens, including the hundreds operating for years under the noses of authorities are now on top of Bukit Aman's "clean-up" list.
The federal police headquarters will unleash its Special Task Force on Organised Crime (Stafoc) soon to clamp down on these illegal operations, some under the guise of Internet cafes, while others openly, albeit behind closed doors, guarded by lookouts and tinted windows.
"The Stafoc team, with no less than 200 highly-trained personnel, has been tasked with this assignment and will focus their operations mainly in the Klang Valley and big cities where illegal gambling, both conventional and online, are thriving," a Bukit Aman source said.
He said the team was also mapping out strategies to deal with the problem. Selangor is estimated to have around 2,000 of these gambling dens.
"The focus of this exercise, codenamed Op Dadu, cannot be more urgent as the cascading effects of illegal gambling is simply too great to ignore.
"Most of those caught in the gambling trap are low-income earners. Many resort to borrowing from Ah Long when they need to feed their gambling habit. They have also been luring in schoolchildren.
"One illegal gambling operator usually has 100 outlets, including small ones. We have at least seven illegal gambling operators on our radar," a source said.
It is learnt that Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, on his recent rounds to state police headquarters, had told police chiefs that the Home Ministry was far from satisfied with the kind of operations that the contingents' Gambling, Vice and Secret Society Division (D7) were carrying out under Ops Dadu and Noda.
He told them to buck up, and at the same time, said Bukit Aman would send flying squads to the states to "take over the job" if district police failed to arrest the problem of mushrooming illegal gambling dens and other vices.
"These squads will come from Bukit Aman to hit them and they, including those operating this kinds of dens and district police chiefs, will not know what hit them.
"If these flying squads are deployed to these areas to do the clean-up, it will not be good for the police in the area."
Under the law, anyone who permits a place to be used as a common gaming house, or assists in the managing of a common gaming house, could face a maximum fine of RM50,000 and could be imprisoned for a maximum of three years. They also face a RM10,000 fine for each computer seized or five years' jail.
As for the players, any person convicted under the act could face a RM5,000 fine or six months' jail, or both.
The Bukit Aman source also told the New Straits Times police were ready to roll out initiatives to improve the force and its policing.
They include looking into replacing patrol cars. Some 60 per cent of these vehicles have been around for more than 12 years. Bukit Aman's logistics department is carrying out a study on this.
Each state police have been told to carry out assessments on police beat bases and stations to identify those in need of upgrading. Selected police personnel would also be sent for overseas training courses, as is the practice in the military, for at least 12 months.
It is understood police would be advising local authorities on locations where existing closed-circuit television cameras needed to be replaced with high-definition ones to enhance investigations.
Meanwhile, the ministry revealed that following the police's aggressive policing, especially through Op Cantas, public confidence in the force had increased by 70 per cent.
Read more: Weeding out illegal gambling - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/weeding-out-illegal-gambling-1.458200#ixzz2txc6mHqa