Seedy Side of Internet Cafes: Degenerate Gamblers, Hookers, Mickey Mouse
Law enforcement in North Jakarta have detained Mickey Mouse…well, sort of…
That’s the nic they gave to gambling boss Hady Soemantri a.k.a Bong Can a.k.a Acan.
The raid comes at a time when Indonesia is in the midst of cracking down on illegal Internet café’s used for gambling purposes. The businesses are often run from 8 am to 1 am.
“The location (in question) was often used as center of online gambling called mickey mouse in North Jakarta," noted Vice Chief of North Jakarta Resort Police Detective and Crime Unit, Comr. Pujiyarto. We succeeded to detain eight suspects, one of them is the boss named Acan who had been captured twice for the same case in 2011."
Indonesia is not alone in believing Internet cafes act as a haven for organized crime.
In the US state of Ohio, the president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police told an Ohio House committee Tuesday that Internet cafes are engaging in such criminal activity as consumer fraud, money-laundering, racketeering and sex-trafficking,
Supporters of HB 7 claim the cafes are havens for organized crime and unregulated gambling while opponents insist the bill sketches an unfair portrait of the industry and destroys Ohio jobs.
A Cleveland Plains Dealer reader commented:
I worked for an internet cafe in Florida for 8 months. I'll never forget when a prostitute hung around the place looking for a customer. The two midnight shift workers even took part in her business if you know what I mean. The manager was even aware of it and did nothing. We had homeless people loitering around the place coming inside looking for handouts(we had to call the police on him), and the regular customers ,gambling addicts in my opinion, were there multiple times a day. This place dealt in cash payouts which attracted all kinds of people.
Guns and 32 slot machines were seized in a raid on a Liberty City, Ohio Internet café just last week.
Police chief Richard Tisone said the raid on the Belmont Sweeps at 3130 Belmont Ave. began about 10:20 a.m. Friday.
“Based on the detective bureau’s observations and documents, they found gambling was occurring at the Belmont Sweeps,” Tisone said.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
