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Toa Payoh coffee shop's gambling den

metalslug

Alfrescian
Loyal
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,197930,00.html?

Closed for food, open for gambling
Police raid well-equipped gambling den hidden in Toa Payoh coffee shop
By Special Correspondent

April 05, 2009

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GETTING IN: Our reporter (above) was turned away at the rear entrance of the coffee shop, but regulars (below) got in easily.

RESIDENTS in Toa Payoh Lorong 7 were puzzled by a coffee shop at Block 4 - it was always closed.

Yet, for a shop that never opened for business, it boasted high-tech security measures, including surveillance cameras and people acting as look-outs.

The rear windows had opaque plastic curtains, as if to prevent stray light from escaping.

The previous coffee shop had closed down late last year, and residents had been waiting for it to reopen since then.

During that time, the front shutters were plastered with 'for sale' signs.

On Thursday, it became clear why the coffee shop never opened for business.

A police raid surprised 'customers' in the premises - and they weren't there for the food.

The shop was a front for an illegal gaming parlour.

Some residents, like retiree Ah Siong, 62, were surprised by the raid.

He said: 'I have been waiting to eat Chinese food at this coffee shop for the longest time.

'I thought it was strange that it didn't open for business because there is a big Chinese community in this estate.'

But others, such as two estate cleaners, noticed something suspicious - many people, ranging from teenagers to retirees, were seen entering the coffee shop from its rear entrance.

One cleaner, who declined to give his name, said: 'We don't really know what goes on inside, but once in a while people come and leave in a hurry.'

The gambling den might have gone unnoticed if not for a tip-off by a resident to The New Paper in mid-March.

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He said that during the school holidays, students would enter the coffee shop, where cigarettes are also sold for $6 a packet.

Out of curiosity, he went into the coffee shop where he was 'treated like a VIP'.

Rows of arcade machines, featuring card, jackpot and horse-racing games, lined the walls of the smoky premises.

Bunk beds were also available for tired gamblers, he told The New Paper.

But getting into the parlour was not easy. We tried to do so one night last week but were turned away by a man who opened the rear door.

Wrong place?

He said calmly in Mandarin: 'Maybe you heard wrong. People live here, not gamble here. Perhaps a few doors away is the gambling parlour.'

He didn't seem angry at our inquiry, but wanted to know who had told us that the coffee shop was a gambling parlour.

From our observation, most visitors entered the parlour in the afternoons.

A man in his late 40s visited the premises regularly to supply contraband cigarettes, which he carried in a black plastic bag.

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AFTER THE RAID: A worker removing the confiscated high-tech equipment from the coffee shop. --PICTURES: SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

When a visitor knocked on the back door, it would be opened seconds later. We could not find out whether a password was needed to gain entry.

The gambling activities were hard to detect from the outside as there were no tell-tale sounds from the machines.

The New Paper informed the police about the suspicious activities in the coffee shop.

When the place was busted by plainclothes police on Thursday, we learned that there was a false wall behind the shutters to muffle the sound and block stray light from the coffee shop.

The air-conditioned room, no bigger than two HDB rooms, had a counter where money was presumably exchanged for tokens.

Soft drinks, coffee and instant cup noodles were stacked against a wall.

A CCTV monitor allowed the parlour operators to screen visitors at the rear entrance.

A small camera above the rear door was hidden inside a small painted box. It was later disabled by policemen.

By 4pm, a large group of curious residents had gathered to watch workers loading the confiscated machines and computers onto a lorry.

The machines were labelled before being taken away, along with chairs from the premises.

Officers from the Tanglin Police Division arrested five men and a woman for their suspected involvement in illegal gambling activities.

They seized cash amounting to $1,114, along with 12 jackpot machines, 14 computers and monitors.

The six suspects are out on bail.

The Commander of Tanglin Police Division, Superintendent Paul Lim, said: 'Police will continue to take tough enforcement actions against illegal gambling activities and will not hesitate to prosecute persons involved in such activities.'

Previous cases

Operators of gambling parlours often try to hide their illegal activities from public view by using a fake shop front.

Last month, an illegal den disguised as a football club in Jalan Turi, was busted by the police. About 22 computers, used for illegal online gambling, were seized.

Last October, undercover police arrested more than 30 people and confiscated 14 jackpot machines and 20 computers from a den at MacPherson Road.

It was disguised as a handphone shop. A partition concealed a separate floor in which illegal gambling took place.

Under the law, the owner of a place used as a gaming house can be fined up to $50,000 and jailed up to three years, if found guilty.
 

Cestbon

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Casino when completed sure big hit now already so many some gambling den open up all over island . I can see few table operating in Geylang in open space.
 

po2wq

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
juz sum hands-on job orientation b4 applying 4 jobs @ ir oso cannot? ... :rolleyes:
 

Airlib

Alfrescian
Loyal
If they keep raiding all these gambling dens... How are those applicants for the IR job, going to have relevant experience for their job.

Damn.. they should have put these under the SPUR program as well... OJT man.
 

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
NP_NEWS_1_CURRENT_ZYSHOP-LDO.jpg

AFTER THE RAID: A worker removing the confiscated high-tech equipment from the coffee shop. --PICTURES: SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

FTrash having a fun time freeloading from Sporns?
 

angie II

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
NP_NEWS_1_CURRENT_ZYSHOP-LDO.jpg


"Wah shiok da dei... i get to pocket this!! Now who say there are no free things in this world?"
 

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
>>>The New Paper informed the police about the suspicious activities in the coffee shop.<<<

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Stare at me for fcuk? I so bz where got time to do under cover work? U think I'm paid millions to do menial tasks ah? *chey*
 
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