S`PORE POLICE CRIPPLE BOOKMAKING, LOANSHARKING RING

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Bernama) -- Singapore police detained 16 people,
including six women, in connection with illegal soccer bookmaking and loan
sharking in a two-day, islandwide operation which ended Tuesday.

Police said the operation also saw the largest cash seizure totalling S$0.73
million dollars in recent years.

In a statement Wednesday, the police said the arrest of the suspects aged
between 29 and 45, was the result of an intelligence network and intensive
investigations.

It said during the operation, officers from the Police Intelligence
Department and Criminal Investigation Department conducted simultaneous raids at
various locations in the island state.

Items seized for investigations included handphones, laptop computers,
suspected betting slips, debtor records, bank books, cheques and storage devices
such as hard disk drives and memory cards.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate members operated
their illegal soccer bookmaking business via the internet and some of them were
also involved in loan sharking activities.

A person who is found guilty of acting as a bookmaker in the republic could
be fined a maximum of S$200,000 and imprisoned for up to five years, while for
operating a business as an unlicensed moneylender, he could be fined up to
S$200,000 or jailed a maximum of two years, or both.
-- BERNAMA