‘Telco workers’ bust sports betting syndicate

[Yuan Shao]

Thursday August 19, 2010

‘Telco workers’ bust sports betting syndicate

By RASHITHA A. HAMID
[email protected]

KUALA LUMPUR: A team of policemen had to impersonate telecommunication company workers to gain entry into a heavily fortified office of an international sports betting syndicate that took in billions of ringgit in bets. In the 2pm raid yesterday, police arrested 17 people, including five women, who were receiving bets on various sports, including football, tennis and basketball.

Losing bet: Seventeen workers were nabbed in the 2pm raid at the betting office in Jalan Ampang yesterday. — China Press

It was learnt that the police impersonated telecommunication workers because the office, located at Level 5, Megan Avenue 1, Jalan Ampang, was guarded by closed-circuit camera systems and biometrically controlled electronic doors that required passwords and fingerprints to open.

Those detained were merely workers, said Bukit Aman anti-vice, gaming and secret societies prevention unit officer Asst Comm Sanusi Sidek, adding that police were hunting for the syndicate mastermind.

The syndicate had been operating for the past three years, he said, but it kept changing its operations centre every few months to avoid police detection. Initial investigations revealed that the syndicate’s headquarters was in Hong Kong. Police also seized 30 computers in the raid.

 

[Zhou Yü]

Cops tracking down betting mastermind


Friday August 20, 2010

Cops tracking down betting mastermind

KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman who is the mastermind of the biggest illegal online sports betting is believed to be one of the 9,000 agents for a worldwide syndicate. Police are tracking down the man after the betting ring was busted on Wednesday. He was not in when police raided the office at Level 5, Megan Avenue 1, Jalan Ampang here.

Federal CID director Comm Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin said based on the currencies used by the syndicate members, it is believed the headquarters is based in Hong Kong. The syndicate, which had been raking in billions of ringgit, had been renting the office lot in Jalan Ampang for the past one month.

Comm Bakri said the raid was the continuation of ‘Ops Soga’, initiated during the recent Fifa World Cup. In the raid on Wednesday, police impersonated telecommunication workers to gain entry into the office fortified with surveillance features.