Police arrested 13 people and seized 16 CPUs and monitors, 37 tablets, 29 slot machines and two modified 'fish gambling machines', worth approximately RM500,000 after raiding three premises converted into mini casinos in Marudi town, some 800km from here, last night.

Sarawak CID Chief SAC Dev Kumar M.M Sree Shunmugam said the raids were conducted by a team from the CID Headquarters here between 9.30 pm and 11.45 pm.

He said in the first premises, the police seized two modified fish machine table fitted with the 16 CPUs and monitors on the sides, along with 20 tablets of various brands believed to be used specifically for online gambling.

"Six people found in the premises during the raid were arrested. In the second premises, six slot machines were seized and three people found in the premises were arrested," he said in a statement here today.

In the third outlet, he said 23 slot machines and 17 Samsung tablets used for online gambling were seized, and four people found in the premises during the raid were arrested.

Dev Kumar said the new trend exposed from the raids in Marudi was the modification of the fish machine tables into online gaming machines, where the sides of the table were fitted with monitors and the CPUs, hidden below the table.

"To the untrained eye, it looks just like an ordinary fish machine. It appears that operators are finding ingenious ways to continue operating cyber gambling in the state, considering the high stakes involved," he said.

"From the high number of tablets seized in Marudi, it is obvious that the operators are now providing hand-held devices for online gambling. These devices are cheap and concealable," he added.

Dev Kumar said the police were facing an uphill task to eradicate cyber gambling in the state as the operators kept coming up with inventive ways to continue operating.

He stressed that the state CID would intensify efforts to prevent the proliferation of these machines.