KUALA SELANGOR: Based on the viral video, netizens had assumed that the teens smashing illegal gambling machines in Kuala Selangor were doing so due to their frustration by local authorities in stemming illegal gambling.
The truth, however, isn’t quite as clear cut.
The youths, apparently, were destroying the machines as ‘payback’ as their demand for protection money wasn’t met.
This was the outcome of a police investigation, following the spread of a viral video showing the youths in action.
Kuala Selangor police chief Superintendent Ruslan Abdullah said their investigations showed that the youths had earlier extorted an illegal gambling operator for protection money but failed to get any.
“So they destroyed the machines at the outlet. This incident took place on May 10 but the video was only uploaded on social media on June 20,” he said.
He said the caption on the video suggested that the youths did so as the authorities did not take action. This is untrue,” said Ruslan.
Ruslan said that the four youths, members of a non-governmental organisation called Anak Muda Kuala Selangor, are currently under investigation for their alleged involvement in the case.
"The four are local Kuala Selangor youths in their early 20s. Two are suspects while the rest are witnesses assisting us in the probe.”
He said action will be taken against those involved in the act as well as the illegal gambling outlet operator.
Also set to be hauled up are those who had uploaded the video with the intention of misleading the public and smearing the image of the authorities.
The video uploaded on the Warisan-Task Force Facebook page had garnered more than 748,000 views and shared over 9,500 times.