JOHOR BARU, Malaysia: Five policemen decided to meet up to play mahjong instead of patrolling crime-prone areas.

The policemen, all attached to the mobile patrol vehicle unit, met in a bungalow in Jalan Tebrau where they gambled.

Bukit Aman police, acting on a tip-off, caught the policemen who were in their uniform when they raided the house and also found three police cars in the compound.

They seized a mahjong table and several mahjong game tiles from the house that belonged to a businessman.

The five, in their 20s and 30s, have been suspended and will face disciplinary action.

Sources said that under police standard operating procedures, patrol car units were not supposed to "meet up as a group" while on duty.

Police are checking to see how long the five had been carrying out such activities.

This case came days after The Star reported that three policemen were arrested under the Dangerous Drug Act while four others were suspended soon after the theft of confiscated syabu at the state police headquarters came to light.