Jakarta – On the night of Wednesday August 11, the Tambora city sectoral police (Polsek) in West Java raided a number of gambling houses in the Tambora area. One of these was known to be owned by Eurico Gutteres, a former commander of the East Timor pro-integration militia.

At a gambling den located in the Duri Utara village the police succeeded in arresting around 15 of Gutteres’ employees and a number of gamblers. Gutteres himself only came to the Tambora police station after being contacted by police through one of his friends.

“Gutteres and his 15 employees have been questioned by Polsek Tambora police since 6am this morning”, said one of the police officers contacted by Detik.com on Thursday morning. According to the officer, the raid was based on information from members of the public who said that gambling activities were frequently seen in the area and have become a growing concern. The location of the gambling den owned by Gutteres was new and had not been in operation long.

“After obtaining the information police conducted a raid last night. Gutteres even admitted that the gambling den was his”, added the police officer. As well as arresting Gutteres’ employees and a number of gamblers, the police also seized a roulette machine and other brand new gambling equipment form the location. “The gambling equipment which [we] could see was still new was also seized and taken to Tambora Polsek as material evidence”, said the police officer. ()

[Translated by James Balowski.]