Gambling Activity Appears In West Nusa Tenggara Ahead Of MotoGP At The Mandalika Circuit, Police Intervene

Mandalika Circuit, Lombok, NTB. (Instagram/itdc_id)

MATARAM - The MotoGP event at the Mandalika Circuit, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), will take place on March 18-20, 2022. Ahead of the international motorcycle racing event, allegations of gambling activities related to MotoGP emerged.

Mataram Police Chief Commissioner Heri Wahyudi said the allegations were based on community reports. He admitted that he would follow up on this information by conducting field searches.

"With information from the public about the rampant gambling in Mataram City, especially in the Cakranegara area, the criminal justice function through the Puma Team is now increasing enforcement efforts in the field," said Heri in Mataram, Monday, March 7, quoted from Antara.

According to him, the field action step by taking coercive measures against the perpetrators suspected of being involved in gambling is the right strategy to suppress threats or disturbances to public security and order (kamtibmas) ahead of the MotoGP event.

"Of course, to anticipate disturbances in welcoming MotoGP, the security and social security situation must remain conducive. One of them is by suppressing active gambling in the community," he said.

Finally, regarding the case of online dark totol gambling (togel). The case, which was revealed at the end of last week, netted two perpetrators who are now suspects under the suspicion of Article 303 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code concerning Gambling.

One of the perpetrators is known to be a housewife. He has the initials K, from Karang Kelebut, Cakranegara District, Mataram City. His role is suspected to be a lottery dealer who receives and deposits the order numbers of the buyers to the actor with the initials D, 38 years old.

"So this D, still lives in the same neighborhood with K. He is a collector of buyer order numbers. He accepts deposits from K actors and installs lottery numbers directly online through his personal lottery site account," he said.

Heri emphasized that his party will continue to carry out efforts to enforce forced action in the field against suspected criminals who have the potential to threaten security and social order ahead of the MotoGP event.