PETALING JAYA: Local authorities have been urged to step up monitoring of cybercafes, following complaints that the outlets have turned into gambling dens.

Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation chairman Datuk Lee Lam Thye said local authorities should review the terms and conditions when issuing cybercafe licences.

"If I am not mistaken, there is no mention that cybercafes should not be used for gambling purposes," he said.

The local authorities should clearly specify a ban on gambling on the licences to curb such abuses, he said in a statement. The Malaysian Youth Council also urged the Housing and Local Government Ministry, through the local authorities, to step up monitoring of cybercafes.

The local authorities' incapability and lack of enforcement staff had resulted in several cybercafe operators introducing unhealthy activities, council chairman of town development committee Norizan Sharif said.

Lee and Norizan were commenting on a statement by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai that police were considering banishing the operators of cybercafes who allow gambling activities.

It was reported yesterday that police had identified 21 cybercafes in the Klang Valley which had been turned into gambling dens by allowing customers to gamble on Internet casinos.

In Muar, OCPD Asst Comm Shuib Mohd Hashim said his men would compile evidence on such operators.

"When we have sufficient evidences, we will act," he said at a Hari Raya gathering yesterday.

"To date, we have arrested more than 20 operators and three have been charged in court," he added.

District Officer Datuk Johari Suratman also supported Norian's statement.

He said, although the Government had increased the fines from RM5,000 to RM50,000 and the jail sentences from two to five years in 1998, many continued to violate the law.

In Seremban, state police chief Senior Asst Comm I Datuk Amiruddin Embi has asked for a monthly report on gambling activities including Internet casinos.

"Every month, I get a report on gambling activities and we will include such vices in cybercafes," he told reporters after attending a Hari Raya celebration yesterday.

He said there were about 10 cybercafes in the district.