Police on Wednesday night conducted a massive crackdown against illegal gambling and conducted raids on a number of gambling dens and rounded up 87 gamblers in the city and its periphery.
The police seized more than Rs 8 lakh in cash and a number of mobile phones from the arrestees’ possessions.
Sources said that during raids the Baidyanathpur police detected two gambling cases, seized Rs 3, 89, 920 in cash and arrested 13 gamblers.
The Town police detected three gambling cases, seized cash of Rs 1, 21, 250 and arrested 26 gamblers. Similarly, Bada Bazaar police detected four cases, seized cash of Rs 3,82, 400 and arrested 48 gamblers, said the Brahmapur SDPO.
Though gambling is a tradition in the festivities during the season and even families indulge in it in the district, the police are only targeting illegal gambling in which lakhs of rupees are put as bets. Many gamblers are financially ruined. Indirectly this leads to spurt in criminal activities like snatching and loots, which prove a headache for the police, said local intellectuals.