Illegal gambling operation uncovered by routine immigration check; man jailed 52 weeks
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Kelvin Cheng Soon Wang was sentenced to 52 weeks’ jail and a $5,000 fine on March 5.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE - A routine immigration check at Woodlands Checkpoint exposed a man’s role in an illegal gambling operation.
Kelvin Cheng Soon Wang, 33, was driving back to Singapore from Malaysia in March 2024 when Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers stopped his car for a routine check and found 20 illegal streaming TV boxes.
The officers seized the devices, along with two Apple iPhones, a Redmi mobile phone, a thumb drive and a SIM card.
When questioned, Cheng claimed he had found the Redmi phone and SIM card in a shopping mall in Johor Bahru, but forensic investigations into the phone revealed he was its owner and led to the discovery of his role in the illegal gambling operation.
On March 5, Cheng was sentenced to 52 weeks’ jail and a $5,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to one count of conducting a betting operation unlawfully and another for the obstruction of justice.
One charge under the Copyright Act was taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephen Yeo said Cheng was given multiple opportunities to come clean, but he did so only in September 2024 when he was confronted with evidence extracted from the Redmi phone by officers from the Technology Crime Forensic Branch.
The forensics officers were going through the contents of the Redmi phone to establish Cheng’s ownership of it and to find evidence of his involvement in the sale of the TV boxes.
Cheng later admitted that in June 2023 he had placed illegal lottery bets with a man he knew only as Michael.
Subsequently, Michael asked Cheng to work as an agent to help collect 4-D and Toto bets for him. Cheng was offered a portion of the collected sum as his commission.
Between June 26, 2023, and March 11, 2024, Cheng helped to collect more than $220,000 in bets for Michael.
Cheng even roped in his father, who has since died, to help collect more bets for the gambling operation. Collectively, the pair made around $12,000 in commissions.
Cheng will begin serving his sentence on May 4, after he was granted a deferment to settle his affairs as a property agent.
