KUALA LUMPUR: More than 17,000 raids and 25,643 arrests were made under Ops Dadu - an anti-illegal gambling operation - between January and October this year.

       “Most of our success came from raids against unlicensed lottery operations (9,561), while 6,321 raids were for online gambling centres,” said Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan (pic) at a press conference here on Wednesday (Nov 3).

       “I urge the public to continuously share information with us. Let us know, even if it’s something like noticing a group of people only leaving a premises to buy food, at least we can do an inspection,” he added.

       According to police statistics, 2020 recorded 15,958 raids, with 26,656 arrests.

       Of the 17,382 investigation papers opened between January and October this year, 8,362 had been charged.

       On licensed gambling operators, he said that the Finance Ministry has licensed 161 operators.

       “Recently, we had a case within Brickfields of allegations that Muslim patrons were visiting one of these legal operators in a clubhouse but after thorough checks by the police, we found that it was not the case.

       “The videos that were shown were found to have been cut and edited together. Yes, Muslim patrons were inside, but they were there for other facilities in the clubhouse,” he said.