Cops raid suspected gambling lord’s base

Phillipines - Members of the Manila Police District’s Task Group Katapat raided one of Manila’s reported big-time gambling lord’s base of operation Tuesday night, arresting seven people and confiscating gambling paraphernalia and electronic gadgets.

The raid was an offshoot of several weeks of surveillance of suspicious-looking persons going in and out of a three-story apartment at 1049 Sto. Cristo corner Maria Payo streets in Tondo.

“We received information that the place is being rented as the main base of illegal gambling operation of Venancio ‘Apeng’ Sy, who is an untouchable gambling lord in Manila,” said Chief Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr., head of Task Group Katapat.

Sy, who uses several aliases, reportedly owns some 500 illegal horserace bookie joints and also has 500 “lo-teng” collectors around Manila. Lo-teng is an illegal numbers game which replaced jueteng in Manila and is played based on the nightly winning lotto numbers.

According to Arevalo, the raiding team led by Senior Inspector Loreto Concepcion had a hard time getting into the apartment.

“My men had to use a boltcutter to destroy the locks of three gates in order to gain entry into the house. The area is constantly monitored by closed-circuit cameras which identify Sy’s personnel,” Arevalo said.

During the commotion, several people escaped through the back door, bringing with them hundreds of thousands of cash representing the collection for the day. Sy was reportedly not around at the time of the raid.

Those arrested were identified as Keempe Zaplan, 41; Donald Lopez, 33; Badeth Francisco, 18; Linelle Gumapac, 28; Ronald de Ramos, 39; Rolando Kabigting, 44; and Jenny Rausa, 20.

The police also seized bundles of horserace programs, lo-teng stubs, tally sheets, ballpens, staplers, 10 calculators, three white boards, five fax machines, five telephones, three CCTV cameras, four cellular phones, one processor unit, four television sets and P2,500 cash in various denominations.

News Added: 30 August, 2007

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