Nearly SGD730,000 (US$522,600) worth in cash and electronic equipment, including computers and portable phones, was seized by the Singapore authorities following raids in six locations across the city-state on Sunday, against alleged illegal online gambling operators.
The news was in a statement issued by Singapore police on Tuesday, and reported that day by local media.
An aggregate of 24 people, ranging in age from 32 to 74, was arrested in the operation. Bank accounts of the suspects were also frozen, said the reports.
Two males were due to be charged in court on Tuesday with offences under the Remote Gambling Act 2014. The police indicated they would ask the court to keep the two suspects in custody, pending further inquiries.
Singapore’s parliament passed the Act in October 2014, and it came into force in January 2015.
The law says that any person convicted of enabling others – either inside Singapore or outside – to take part in unlawful online gambling, faces “a fine of not less than SGD20,000 and not more than SGD200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both”.
In a separate release on Monday, the Singapore police said it was investigating six men, aged between 62 and 78, “for their suspected involvement in illegal gambling activities.”
“Two 74-year-old men, were allegedly found to have acted as bookmakers to four others, aged between 62 and 78,” according to the authorities. “Cash of more than SGD2,200, two handphones and gambling paraphernalia were seized as case exhibits,” the statement added.
