‘Get out, cops are coming!’
Workers at an illegal gambling outlet are being tipped off by policemen on impending raids, claims a crime fighter.
Anisah Shukry, FMT
“Everyone get out, the police will be here in four minutes!”
Knowing that a raid was imminent, workers at the Simpang Pertang illegal gambling centre hastily ushered their customers out and planted damaged computers for the police to seize.
Within minutes, a police patrol car entered the area, made three rounds without stopping or braking, and left empty-handed.
Relating this incident to FMT was MyWatch chief R Sri Sanjeevan, who, disguised as a customer at these outlets, had tipped off Bukit Aman that the outlets were still operating illegally.
But his efforts were foiled as a police officer from the nearby police station allegedly alerted the outlets’ workers of the raid.
“I was undercover at one of the outlets and called Bukit Aman at 10.31pm to tip them off that the outlets were still operating,” said Sanjeevan.
Last Thursday, Negeri Sembilan police announced they had set up a team to investigate Sanjeevan’s claims that an officer had threatened to shoot him for exposing illegal activities in the area.
State CID chief ACP Hamdan Majid had also denied the MyWatch chief’s claim that police were protecting the illegal gambling centres, pointing out that 232 raids were carried out since 2011
Nothing has changed
But according to Sanjeevan, an undercover trip to the outlets the following night revealed that nothing had changed.
Aside from the fact that the workers were warned in advance, he expressed disgust over the apparently half-hearted method in which the police ultimately conducted the raid.
“A police car went one round around the shop lots, then a second round, then a third round – without stopping or even braking. They took a short cruise, then left,” he recalled.
He said that after the “raid”, a uniformed policeman entered the shop and told the workers that they could resume operations.
“It’s very clear to me now that the police are business partners of this illegal syndicates. The whole syndicate is run by ex-policemen,” he added.
Sanjeevan said he immediately informed Hamdan what had transpired and demanded that the ACP take action.
“I told him the culprit is inside the force and asked him why he was still protecting those guilty in the Jelebu police force.
“Hamdan told reporters that they had conducted hundreds of raids on this area since 2011, but why are these outlets still operating?” said Sanjeevan.
He was referring to a Bernama report in which Hamdan refuted the MyWatch chief’s claims that the local police had done nothing to stop the illegal gambling syndicate in Simpang Pertang.
Hamdan had said that 66 raids were carried out in 2011, 154 in 2012 and 12 in January.
But according to Sanjeevan, several police officers from Negeri Sembilan had told him that those who arrested parties involved in the illegal gambling syndicates were transferred within a month.
“It’s an internal transfer. That means the culprit is sitting up in the IPK Negeri Sembilan,” he claimed, referring to the state’s police contingent headquarters.
“So I am urging the Inspector-General of Police and Deputy Inspector-General of Police [DIG] to remove Hamdan if he is not doing his job,” said Sanjeevan.
