No power for these people

The police in Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Malaysian Sabah province, have deployed a new weapon in their fight against illegal online gambling operators – cutting off their electricity supply.

The measure will help prevent the notoriously persistent illegal operators from simply buying new computers and re-starting operations following police raids…now they will have to find new premises or buy expensive and conspicuous mobile generators.

Police spokesman ACP M. Chandra told local reporters that there has been a resurgence in online gambling activity recently, with illegal operators switching to tablets and beefing up their security against police raids.

In recent raids his officers had nevertheless managed to arrest 7 people and seize four computers and 28 tablets, he revealed, adding that the police had liaised with the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd to permanently disconnect the power supply to the raided illegal cyber gambling centres.

“We want to make sure these places can no longer be used for any illegal activities,” the police spokesman said.