Police in Jeddah struck consecutive blows on Arab and Asian gambling rings in the city Monday when house raids led to the arrest of eight people who allegedly worked with international lottery networks. A police report stated that the group used local shops and stores in the district of Al-Kandara to sell lottery tickets for which winnings were handed out in the middle and at the end of each month. Police moved in on several sites in Al-Kandara to make the arrests and prevented some persons from “escaping with their illicit profits”, while officers found “dozens of cards, forms and gambling papers” at the locations. The eight have been taken into the custody of the relevant authorities for investigation ahead of trial proceedings. Jeddah Police have had several successes in cracking down on lottery and gambling operations over the last few months. In the last five weeks alone two Filipinos and a Bangladeshi were arrested for selling lottery tickets from a grocery store in Al-Balad, and a Bangladeshi was charged with running a lottery racket from a cafeteria-restaurant in the Al-Sabeel District. During raids officers invariably find lists of customer names running into the hundreds.
