Crime & Courts

Police to probe viral video clips of patients gambling at MAEPS

KUALA LUMPUR: Police are aware of several viral video clips showing groups of people allegedly patients of Covid-19 Quarantine and Low Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park (MAEPS) in Serdang being involved in gambling activities.

Selangor Criminal Investigations Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Datuk Fadzil Ahmat said police must check the authenticity of these video clips.

"We are investigating the origins of these recordings. If there are elements of gambling or related crimes, police will take action," he told the New Straits Times.

When contacted, Sepang district police chief Assistant Commissioner Imran Abd Rahman said as of 5pm no police report was lodged over the alleged gambling activities at the PKRC in Maeps.

Based on the viral video clips, they depicted that the PKRC had been turned into a "mini casino" showing several people were openly gambling.

These alleged patients were seen to have gathered in groups, playing cards and making bets using real money.

There were also scenes of a different group in the same video which also showed another group of alleged patients or people under surveillance (PUS) playing cards but they had change the stakes to various packets of food in their game.

All of these allegedly happened right under the watchful eyes of the health ministry officials, who were also seen standing not too far from the groups who were gambling.

Also seen in the videos uploaded in 'We are Malaysian' Facebook page, were officials in full personal protective equipment (PPE) gear standing behind a row of counters.

The government reopened and repurposed the Maeps convention halls in December last year to manage low risk patients, after a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Before that, the government had converted the halls into temporary healthcare facilities, as a precautionary measure.

It was only used for a brief time to isolate and treat the foreign workers during the second wave of infection.

The PKRC was then closed for a few months before government reopened it to manage the ongoing third wave cases.

Efforts to obtain the health ministry comments on the matter were futile at press time.

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