Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) ran a bulldozer over eight ‘mesin babi’ and RM5.4 million in illegal gambling equipment, following a series of vice raids across the city over the past year.
‘Mesin babi’ (literally, “pig machines”) is the colloquial term for electronic betting machines and video games. The DBKL’s Eradication of Illicit Activity Operation (Ops Bah), which ran all through last year and ended on March 1 this year, resulted in the confiscation of eight such machines, estimated to be worth RM160,000.
Other than the betting machines, the DBKL also destroyed RM5.4 million in other equipment seized during its raids, after the owners failed to come forward to reclaim them after a month’s grace period.
“Apart from the eight gambling machines, a total of 4,377 computers, 32 television sets, 89 chairs and tables, CCTV units, Astro decoders, and 90 miscellaneous pieces of equipment were also destroyed,” Federal Territories Ministry secretary-general Adnan Md Ikhsan told Sinar Harian’s Hidayah Hairom.
Also disposed of were some 5,000 copies of pirated CDs.
Throughout Ops Bah’s crackdowns, 163 business premises and 130 massage parlours were raided and penalised for a list of offences.
227 foreign nationals were detained by Immigration Department officials, and 352 locals were identified to have engaged in drug abuse. Another 110 individuals were penalised by the Federal Territories Islamic Reliogious Department (Jawi) for offences related to alcohol consumption.
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