Malaysia illegal operators lose their computers... and their furniture!

Malaysian police have revealed that over the weekend a major anti-online gambling operation, dubbed Subuh Perjudian Terbuka, was carried out across over four districts in the Sepang area involving around 150 officers, who raided 21 different venues.

The police introduced a new technique in an effort to discourage operators from restarting their illegal activities, including furniture along with the usual computer confiscations.

Chief Supt Hairol Azman Razali, who led the operation, said the new strategy gave more of a sting to operators of online casinos, as while their computers may be rented, the furniture belongs to them.

“Renting computers cost about RM1,000 a month per premises with 30 PCs,” the police spokesman said. “It’s the tables and chairs that are actually more expensive to replace,” he said, adding that the new tactic hit home, with around 30 percent of operators even resorting to violence to stop the confiscations.

Malaysian officials have in the past also resorted to permanently cutting off electricity and water utilities to repeat offenders in an effort to stop them re-opening illegal gambling dens.

In the weekend raids, police seized 747 items comprising 573 computers and 174 chairs. Officers were tracked by operator informants, which meant that the initial raids were more successful, the police spokesman reported. Towards the end of the operation officers discovered that computers – and in some cases the furniture too – had already been spirited away.

Chief Superintendent Razali revealed that to date the police in his region have seized 7,200 computers, commenting that there were just under a hundred known gambling dens in the area.

“It is so lucrative, the syndicates can afford to ‘restock’ the locations.” he said.