Police tracking down main syndicate behind gambling Raya ads

PUTRAJAYA: Police are intensifying their efforts to track down the main syndicate which hires the production house that produced two Hari Raya Aidilfitri-themed advertisements promoting online gambling.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department deputy director (intelligence/operations) Datuk Dev Kumar said the initial investigation found that the two videos came from the same production house.

"We will track down the company that hires the production house to make both videos.

"As of now, we only have the producer and actors. They have a middle person and from there only we can reach the syndicate or person responsible for engaging this production house to produce the videos," he said in a news conference on the development of the case here, today.

Also present were the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek and National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) chief executive officer Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri.

Dev said to date, 13 individuals have been arrested to assist investigations into the case, of which nine were held after the first video went viral while four others were nabbed following the release of the second video.

The case was being investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code, Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and Section 4(1)(G) of the Common Gambling Houses Act 1953, he said.

Meanwhile, Fadhlullah Suhaimi said actions would be taken against errant individuals who continue to upload the videos on any social media platform for any purposes.

"We urge the public not to disseminate the videos because they are not good content," he said.

The Hari Raya Aidilfitri-themed video advertisement promoting gambling activities went viral since Friday and the MCMC is intensifying its efforts to take down the contents with the cooperation from platform providers such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

In KUALA LUMPUR, Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said four actors in the second video were held in Ampang yesterday.

The three men and a woman, aged between 24 and 32, have been remanded for two days starting today to assist in the investigation into the case.

"The four actors in the second video received a payment of RM200 each, slightly higher than the payment received by actors in the first video, namely RM180," he told Bernama.

-- BERNAMA