By Farik Zolkepli

JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: An illegal lottery betting syndicate, which dealt with more than RM32mil(S$13.2mil) worth of bets in the past five months, has been busted.

Police raided a house in Taman Pasir Pelangi at 6pm last Thursday following a tip-off and arrested two men and three women, aged between 30 and 47.

The men are believed to be Singaporeans.

Police also seized four computers, two laptops, five fax machines, nine handphones and RM1,035 as well as S$4,800 (RM11,040) .

Acting Johor police chief Senior Asst Comm I Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the syndicate raked in RM6.4mil in bets monthly.

He said it catered to players from Malaysia and from neighbouring countries.

"The syndicate tried to hide its activities by moving to different premises but we managed to track it down," he told a press conference here yesterday.

Meanwhile, three people, including a teenage school dropout, have been detained for being involved in a betting syndicate for horse racing and European football league matches.

The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, were arrested after police raided a house in Taman Pelangi at 4.45pm on Sunday.

SAC I Tun Hisan said that police also seized six laptops, a fax machine and 11 handphones in the raid.

"They operate throughout the year, especially during the football league season," he said.