Daily Times

KARACHI: Karachi Police claims to have arrested 15 men in a raid conducted at a gambling den on Sunday ahead of the final match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

The police said that approximately Rs3 billion collected in gambling proceeds have been sent by the suspects to Dubai and Mumbai through illegal channels of hawala and hundi during recent PSL matches.

The raid was carried out at a bungalow located in Khayaban-e-Badban area of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in the jurisdiction of Darakhshan police.

SP Clifton Tauqeer Naeem told Daily Times that the police team recovered Rs6.5 million worth of currency notes issued by different countries, and 39 mobile phones, three laptops and expensive watches during the raid.

Police said the suspects were part of a gambling racket who had rented out the bungalow for gambling purposes only.

“Those arrested include an employee of a private TV channel,” SP Naeem said.

The head of the racket, according to police, is a resident of Soldier Bazaar area.

According to the SP Clifton, there are 88 gambling bookkeepers active in the city where betting is taking place on PSL matches. He said that those arrested on Sunday belonged to different bookkeeping facilities across the city who had gathered to deliberate on their plans for the upcoming final of the league.

In initial investigation, it has been revealed that the racket was in close contacts with international bookkeepers based in UAE and India, and approximately Rs3 billion has been sent by this racket to Dubai and Mumbai, through illegal channels during the current edition of the PSL.

Police source told Daily Times that three main rackets of gamblers are active in Clifton area.

According to the SP Touqeer Naeem, the gamblers were also under investigation for consumption of drugs and arranging dance parties at the bungalow during PSL matches.

A case has been registered against the suspects and investigation is underway.

A senior police officer said that they were well aware of the fact that there were rival groups involved in gambling on cricket matches and sometimes one group could tip off the police about the location of the other group to get the latter out of their way. He said the police needed to crack down on all such groups to make its operation against gambling effective.

Published in Daily Times, March 19^th 2018.