MORE PICS – BIGGEST 1 MILLION BETTING SYNDICATE Smashed; SIX arrested (4 Women )in Taman Seri Hijau Apartment, PENANG; RM25,000 Equipments Confiscated

Illegal lottery ring busted; STAR, Jan 02 06

PENANG: An illegal lottery syndicate, believed to have been taking in bets totalling about RM1mil monthly, has been busted with the arrest of six people, including four women. The syndicate had been receiving an average of RM70,000 worth of bets coming in from Penang and Kedah on each betting day, according to state CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Abu Samah Mat.(BELOW)

Police also seized 625 betting sheets together with three laptops, three desktops, five fax machines, three printers, four calculators and three mobile phones.

ABOVE: Stacks of Betting sheets (from FAX machines) and BELOW (High Speed Computers) were confiscated?

SAC Abu Samah told a press conference yesterday that the six were arrested in an apartment in Taman Seri Hijau during a police raid at 6pm on Saturday.

ABOVE: Many sets of Fascimiles (FAX) machines were taken away at the flat. Fax copies are considered "genuinue copies" of bets as proof. Emails bets are NOT reliable as can be spamed

“We believe one of them is the mastermind of the syndicate,” he said. He said the syndicate was believed to have been operating the lottery centre since early last year.

The case would be investigated under Section 4A(a) of Common Gaming Home Act 1953 which carries a maximum of RM200,000 fine or five years’ jail term or both upon conviction, he added.

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January 01, 2007 19:20 PM Penang Police Crush Gambling Syndicate

PENANG, Jan 1 (Bernama) -- Police have crushed the biggest gambling syndicate of 2006 in Penang, which raked in more than RM1 million in bets a month, and detained six people, four of them women. The six were detained in a raid at the syndicate's base located at a flat in Taman Seri Hijau in Jalan Perak here at about 6 pm on Dec 30.

Penang Criminal Investigation Department Chief, SAC II Abdul Samah Mat, said the six were aged between 25 and 40 years. He said the syndicate mastermind was also held. He told a news conference the suspects were collecting the betting papers from the facsimile machines when they were detained. "Police believe the syndicate is one of the biggest that operated in Penang and Kedah with a turnover of RM1 million a month," he said.

Abdul Samah said the police seized betting slips as well as computers, lap-tops and other equipment worth about RM25,000 from the premises.

The flat was renovated to make it suitable for use as a gambling den and was equipped with a closed circuit camera to monitor police movement, he added.