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Jul 5, 2010
Game over for 12 bookies
12 men nabbed, $1,500 seized in police raid at coffee shop in Geylang
By Kimberly Spykerman <!-- by line -->
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Police checking and recording the identities of a group sitting in the D E Eating House in Geylang Lorong 25A, during a raid on illegal football betting last Saturday night, as the World Cup quarter-final match between Germany and Argentina was being shown on a TV screen. -- ST PHOTOS: DESMOND WEE

A GEYLANG coffee shop allegedly secretly operating as an illegal betting centre was the focus of police operations late last Saturday night. The 60-strong crowd watching the World Cup match between Germany and Argentina appeared shocked when plainclothes detectives and uniformed officers swarmed the D E Eating House in Geylang Lorong 25A. <!-- story content : start -->
Just before 11pm, white police vans pulled up alongside the coffee shop - within walking distance of a Singapore Pools outlet - and officers surrounded the place. Ever since the tournament started, the police have been coming down hard on illegal punters betting on the matches. In the latest raid last Saturday, 12 men aged between 24 and 57 were rounded up. Cash amounting to $1,500 and other items like notepads and a calculator were seized.
One of the suspects arrested is believed to be an illegal bookie who collected bets from punters in the vicinity of the coffee shop. Only days before, the police smashed two syndicates in an islandwide blitz, arresting 12 people and seizing cash of more than $143,000. Both syndicates are said to have received bets worth between $250,000 and $400,000 through text messages and online betting sites.
Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.
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