On 8 June 2018, Or Poh Soon, was convicted in court for an offence under Section 5(1) of the Organised Crime Act 2015 (OCA), an offence under Section 5(a) of the Common Gaming Houses Act and an offence under Section 9(1)(a) of the Remote Gambling Act 2014. One other charge under the OCA was taken into consideration for sentencing.
Or is the first person to be convicted of an offence under the OCA since it came into force on 1 June 2016.
Or performed the role of a remote gambling agent within an Organised Criminal Group (OCG), which operated illegal online betting websites facilitating public lotteries. Or acted as a remote gambling agent from 2013 until his arrest on 27 November 2016. As an agent, Or accepted illegal bets from punters and forwarded the bets to another member of the OCG.
Or, together with five others, was among the 49 arrested in November 2016, in one of the largest-scale operations conducted by the Police against criminal syndicates. The six of them were the first to be charged on 16 November 2017 for various offences under the OCA.
The OCA strengthens the ability of law enforcement agencies such as the Singapore Police Force to prevent and disrupt activities of OCGs. It also allows authorities to deter and tackle organised crime at all levels. New offences were introduced under the OCA, including making it an offence to act as a member of an OCG and to deal with monies obtained by OCGs through criminal activities.
The Police will continue with our enforcement and investigation efforts against OCGs in Singapore, and will spare no effort to disrupt and dismantle these OCGs to the fullest extent of the law.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
08 June 2018 @ 6:40 PM