Police are calling a pair of illegal gambling operations allegedly operating inside two southeast billiards and coffee shops a rare occurrence.
On Wednesday, police raided Trung Nguyen Coffee & Billiard and say they found three illegal gaming machines, 10 kilograms of marijuana worth just over $100,000, 6.5 grams of codeine and almost $23,000 in cash.
A second raid on Nua Khuya — Midnight Billiards & Coffee Shop turned up four illegal machines.
Acting Staff Sgt. Mark Hatchette say the two are unrelated and three people face 16 criminal charges related to the machines allegedly taking bets and making payouts.
“We have not seen a lot of this in the city, it’s a unique situation,” he said. “We believe this is just scratching the surface when it comes to illegal gambling.”
