DISGUISED as customers, plainclothes police nabbed six bookies in an undercover operation on Sunday.

The bookies arrested were all Singaporean men, aged 44 to 66. While waiting to board the police van, the men appeared calm.

The bust on the illegal betting syndicate took place at about 2pm on Sunday at the void deck of Block 65A, Circuit Road.

Mr Xu, a Lianhe Wanbao reader, called the newspaper about the raid. Upon arrival, Lianhe Wanbao reporters saw that a huge crowd had gathered.

The men were handcuffed and seated on benches at the void deck. Some were clad in T-shirt and bermudas, while some were in T-shirt and jeans.

Eyewitnesses told Lianhe Wanbao that a plainclothes police officer dressed in a plain white T-shirt and brown bermudas pretended to be a customer who wanted to place a bet.

After the police had gathered enough evidence, the men were arrested on the spot.

One eyewitness, who declined to be named, said: 'Many people had gathered in the void deck.

'Once the police arrived, it was pretty chaotic but the bookies didn't try to run. The police then handcuffed them.'

The eyewitness added that some betting receipts were left behind at the void deck, and that the men boarded the police van at about 4.40pm.

A police spokesman said the six men were arrested under the Betting Act and that investigations are ongoing.

OFTEN SEEN

Residents in the area said the six men were frequently seen at the void deck where they were arrested.

They also said the void deck would get crowded on horse-racing days.

Said one resident: 'It gets pretty lively around here whenever there's a race. Some patrons of the nearby coffee shop would sometimes place their bets with these bookies.'

Other residents said they believed the bookies also live around the Circuit Road area.

Last November, police nabbed 20 people in connection with gang-controlled soccer betting.

The operation was the Singapore leg of a five-country operation against regional gambling dens that raked in $680 million in illegal bets.

The crackdown led to the seizure of 86 computers, two laptops, two modems and $24,000 from gambling dens.