Manama: Police in Bahrain have arrested 32 expatriates for gambling in the capital Manama.
In a brief statement, the Director-General of Investigation and Forensic Science late on Sunday said the detainees were from different Asian countries.
The arrests were made after an investigation was launched following the circulation of a video on social media that showed the suspects gambling.
They were subsequently identified and arrested while cash money and other items were confiscated, the director general said.
Legal proceedings are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecution, he added.
Gambling and betting are strictly banned in Bahrain and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that also comprises Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In January, Kuwait took legal action against 20 gamblers who were arrested in an apartment by police officers acting on a tip-off.
According to the police, the apartment was put under surveillance for several days before officers barged into it and arrested the men.
The apartment was run by two Asians who made every gambler pay KD 1 as fee to play. The gambling den operated between 11 pm and 3:00 am.
In 2014, Kuwait security officers arrested a Kuwaiti doctor for reportedly running an illegal casino in the country and 33 other people who included one American citizen and three European nationals.
The police busted the premises after a Kuwaiti man lost KD 200,000 (Dh2.60 million) and informed the investigation officers about its existence.
Following a close monitoring of the area in the posh Salmiya in the Kuwaiti capital, the police gathered enough evidence to raid the casino.
Initial investigations revealed that the American man owned a casino in the US and that the Europeans were professionals who operated in international gambling halls.
