The persons arrested during a raid on gambling at a casino.
Sleuths with the seizure of gambling material. Pics: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO: In a major raid on an onshore casino in the heart of the commercial capital, Crime Branch sleuths descended on a gambling centre at midnight and arrested 21 persons and seized cash worth around Rs 2.4 lakh and gambling chips worth around Rs 84.5 lakh.
Acting on a tip off, the Crime Branch team swopped on the gambling den, where casino games such as roulette, Andar Bahar and Black Jack were being allegedly conducted.
The team led by PI Lakshi Amonkar, PI Satish Gawde, PSIs Girish Pardoskar, Jairam Kunkolkar, besides Crime Branch staff, seized gambling material and sealed the premsies.
The 21 arrested persons include 13 customers and eight staffer, including Rehan Muzawar. They were all arrested under section 3 & 4 of the Goa Prohibition of Gambling Act. They were later released on bail.
A Crime Branch official informed that the gambling den was playing host to an onshore casino without any valid permission from the competent authority.
Sources informed that the raid continued past midnight and the entire process was completed only in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Further investigations are in progress.
