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WHEN the sun goes down, the punters gather in an alley behind a row of Geylang Road shophouses between Lorong 14 and 16.
Shielded by a row of shophouses on the main road and tall metal hoardings that separate a part of the alley from other buildings, they are waiting for the action to start.
There are about 40 people at the coffeeshop in the alley. They speak in hushed tones, scrutinising passers-by as they try to figure out if they are cops in plain clothes.
A man in his 40s whispers to another man in Mandarin: 'The police keep going around and around. It's so annoying. They caught one man earlier.'
After sensing that the coast is clear, the operators move in to set up tables of dice betting games. They are guided by the light of a fluorescent lamp. Like moths drawn to a flame, gamblers start to gather at the eight tables.
'$10 get $10! $50 get $50!' shouts a tattooed man in his 20s, indicating that if the number wagered on wins, gamblers get a 100 per cent return on their bet.
Half an hour into the games, someone cries out in Mandarin to pack up: 'Sou Sou!'
In the blink of an eye, tables are dismantled, the white mahjong paper lining them and the gambling paraphernalia on them are swept away. The punters and gamblers melt into the night.
Moments later, marked and unmarked police vans halt at the alley disgorging uniformed and plainclothes police officers.
A couple of discarded table legs and crates are all that remains of the open air gambling dens.
This cat-and-mouse game between the den operators and police is played out in Geylang almost every night. Sometimes police raid the area twice in one night but the gambling tables re-appear within minutes of the police leaving.
Just after midnight on Saturday, plainclothes police officers raided the dark backlane between Lorong 14 and 16.
In the heat of the action, tables were knocked into and a white cup and saucer - used to shake the dice - flew to the ground and broke into pieces.
One man was arrested. The 39-year-old Chinese national, thought to be a punter, was charged on Saturday.
The police said they seized about $70 in cash, a portable lamp and gambling paraphernalia.
But when The Sunday Times went back on Saturday night, the gambling dens were back in business.
Read the full report in The Sunday Times.
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