Surigao cops burn illegal game machines

Photo credit: Jocelyn Ferol FB account

By Roel N. Catoto, Mindanews

SURIGAO CITY – Police personnel here set ablaze 16 illegal fruit game machines Wednesday morning in a joint operation with officials of Barangay Washington here.

Supt. Ruben delos Santos, city police chief, said the machines were seized last Monday and Tuesday in an operation spearheaded by barangay chairman Christopher Bonite and his colleagues.

The illegal gambling machines, Delos Santos said, were being operated in “plain view” at three sitios of Barangay Washington.

He vowed that more of such illegal game machines will be seized in the coming days, saying he is just waiting for the search warrant to be issued by the court.

“There are still a lot of it out there and we have identified some owners. But we are still waiting for the warrant for us to seize those illegal machines from their houses,” Delos Santos said.

He said several concerned parents have complained before his office on the presence of illegal game machines in different areas of the city.

He said the machines are rampant in different areas of barangays Taft, Washington, Canlanipa, Luna and San Juan, are urban villages here.

Bonite said there are more illegal game machines in his barangay but most of these are placed inside houses, and thus they need to secure warrants first before they can seize the machines. (Roel Catoto, Mindanews)

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