MELAKA, March 14 (Bernama) — The Melaka government will set up a special task force to curb illegal gambling activities in the state, the State Legislative Assembly was told today.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali said the task force would comprise several agencies including the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), the Malaysian Multimedia Communications Commission (MCMC), local authorities and the Education Department.
He said the task force would be chaired by the State Education, Technology and Telecommunications Committee chairman Datuk Rais Yasin.
“We will make further coordination of the establishment of the task force as soon as possible to finalise the duties and responsibilities of the agencies involved,” he said.
He said this in reply to a question from Rosli Abdullah (BN-Kuala Linggi) on measures taken to curb illegal online gambling activities in Melaka at the state assembly sitting at the Seri Negeri Complex.
Sulaiman said the task force will conveve once a month to assess the effectiveness of the campaigns and enforcement actions that have been taken to comprehensively address the illegal gambling issues in the state.
He said that awareness campaigns would also be carried out in 238 primary schools, 78 secondary schools, and 45 higher education institutions in the state in an effort to curb illegal gambling at the grassroots level.
“PDRM will also reopen its special operations room 24 hours a day to enable the public to channel complaints or information related to illegal gambling activities in their area and to allow prompt action to be taken,” he said.
In the meantime, Sulaiman said a total of 513 individuals were arrested through 501 raids mounted by the authorities last year in operations to curb illegal gambling in the state.
During that period, he said a sum of RM107,614 in cash and items used in the illegal gambling activities had also been seized.
The electricity supply to 111 premises in the state found running illegal gambling operations was also disconnected by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, he added.
— BERNAMA
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