LUMUT - Nine restaurants out of 14 premises involved in gambling activities were subjected to electricity cuts.
The electricity cuts were conducted by the Manjung district police headquarters (IPD) cooperating with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) through Op Dadu around the Ayer Tawar, Sitiawan and Lumut area, here, on Friday.
Manjung district police chief Assistant Commissioner Nor Omar Sappi said investigations found the premises involved have had their electricity cut before as a warning but chose to continue with their gambling activities.
"The premises concealed the gambling premises behind legitimate businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores to act as a gambling agent online as well as to conduct illegal lottery activities.
"Five other premises were phone accessory stores. Investigations found the gambling agents obtained commissions between 18 to 22 per cent based on sales," he said to reporters after participating in the operations.
He said the move to cut the electricity of these premises was under Section 21A(1) Common Gaming Houses Act 1953.
Omar added 73 raids were done since January 1, and 21 of it were charged in court.
"Throughout 2022, 352 raids were done with 259 brought to court, 19 premises were subjected to electricity cuts while the rest were still under investigations.
"Op Dadu will be implemented continuously to aggressively combat these activities," he said.