Youths Held In Swoop On Brunei Snooker Centres
By Lyna Mohammad & M K Anwar

Bandar Seri Begawan - More than 30 teenagers, some as young as 12 years, were taken in for questioning by a raiding party that targeted several snooker and pool centres in the capital.

Seventy four officers from five enforcement agencies, comprising of the Royal Brunei Police Force, Labour, Brunei-Muara District Office, Religious Affairs and Royal Customs & Excise, conducted a joint operation codenamed, “Ops Sejahtera 1”, late Saturday evening.

The operation targeted several entertainment outlets that were open until the early hours of yesterday morning.

The raid was initiated to ensure that all businesses held valid licence, which is issued by relevant authorities besides to monitor any immoral social activities especially among youths in the country.

Acting OCPD Brunei Supt.Pg Sulaiman Pg Hj Mohammad and assisted by DSO Brunei ASP Ariffin Hj Jafarudin, initiated and headed the operation.

The raiding party, divided into groups, conducted spot checks on 13 snooker centres in Gadong and Kiulap. Two customers were caught consuming alcohol at a snooker centre, which was confiscated by Customs enforcement officers. Both of them have been ordered to report to the enforcement office for further questioning.

During the raid, it was also found that most of the snooker centres operate until the early hours, which is against the permitted business hours that have been imposed.

Besides the illegal operating hours as well as running the business while licence for approval for operating such premises is still on hold, the raiding party also rounded up 24 underage youth found loitering at the premises. All of them were taken to the Bandar police station for questioning, while the police personnel contacted their parents or guardians.

In one of the snooker centres raided in Kiulap, the authorities took in two sisters aged 12 and 13 years old. They failed to show any proof of age to the raiding party.

Some of the parents of the youngsters that were taken to the police station told the Bulletin that there were unaware what their children were doing at such late hours.

Some also expressed satisfaction with the stern action taken by the police.

“Let it be a lesson to them,” said a parent who came to take his 13-year-old son.

“I would have even let him stay at the police station for a night as a lesson (for keeping late hours),” said another father.

Seven more youths, who failed to show valid identification cards, were also taken in but were released soon after their family members drove down to the police station to show their identification documents.

The growing number of young teenagers loitering at snooker and pool centers is now becoming a concern for most parents. These premises should not allow those under the age of 16, according to rules stipulated by the District Office. And yet during the raid many were found to be underage. The operating hours of such premises also came under close scrutiny as many were found operating beyond the permitted time.

The A/OCPD Brunei, Supt. Pg Sulaiman, reminded parents and guardians to closely monitor the activities of their children as to prevent them being involved in negative activities. There have been instances where parents were totally unaware of their children’s whereabouts and reported to the police that their children were missing only to find out at the last minute that they were staying at a relative’s house.

Supt. Pg Sulaiman told those operating snooker and pool premises to abide by rules and regulations as stated in their licences. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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