Thursday, June 24, 2004
english.eastday.com
10 arrests made in Malaysia for illegal Euro 2004 gambling
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Police arrested nine Malaysians and an Indonesian and seized laptop computers, televisions and other equipment in the latest raid in a crackdown of illegal betting on the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.
In a raid to an apartment early Thursday in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, officers found the suspects, while watching live telecasts of the England-Croatia and France- Switzerland games, were inputting data into the computers, said senior police official Ithnin Talib.
Cited by the Bernama national news agency, Ithnin said the group had taken up to six million ringgit (US$1.6 million) in bets on each of the tournaments games so far, including high-stakes bets of up to 800,000 ringgit (US$210,000).
Police seized five laptop computers, four satellite television decoders, 19 mobile telephones and two printers, Ithin said.
The suspects face prison terms up to five years and fines of 200,000 ringgit (US$52,000).
As millions of Malaysians followed the Euro 2004, illegal gambling is common, which local police had predicted.
Before Thursday's raid, at least three operations have been shut down and four people arrested in the past two weeks
10 arrests made in Malaysia for illegal Euro 2004 gambling
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police arrested nine Malaysians and an Indonesian and seized laptop computers, televisions and other equipment in the latest raid in a crackdown of illegal betting on the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.
In a raid to an apartment early Thursday in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, officers found the suspects, while watching live telecasts of the England-Croatia and France- Switzerland games, were inputting data into the computers, said senior police official Ithnin Talib.
Cited by the Bernama national news agency, Ithnin said the group had taken up to six million ringgit (US$1.6 million) in bets on each of the tournaments games so far, including high-stakes bets of up to 800,000 ringgit (US$210,000).
Police seized five laptop computers, four satellite television decoders, 19 mobile telephones and two printers, Ithin said.
The suspects face prison terms up to five years and fines of 200,000 ringgit (US$52,000).
As millions of Malaysians followed the Euro 2004, illegal gambling is common, which local police had predicted.
Before Thursday's raid, at least three operations have been shut down and four people arrested in the past two weeks
