LEGAZPI CITY?AT least 409 persons have been arrested since police operatives across the Bicol region stepped up their campaign against illegal gambling operations two weeks ago, a police official said Thursday.

The campaign took off as the intelligence officer and group director of the former 504th Police Provincial Mobile Group, now the Camarines Sur Public Safety Management Company, were relieved following the assumption into office of a new police chief for the province.

At least P53,613, believed to be bets, were also confiscated by police operatives, said Chief Supt. Cecilio B. Calleja Jr., acting PNP Bicol regional director.

Heads to roll

Calleja warned police chiefs in provinces and towns in the region that heads would roll if their offices would fail to stop illegal gambling.

?Police commanders who cannot perform the task of stopping gambling activities in their turf will be replaced by those capable and willing to accomplish the task,? he said.

Calleja added that police have already filed criminal charges against the persons involved, including their financiers.

Among those considered gambling offenses defined and penalized under Republic Act No. 9287 (illegal gambling) are card games, ?pula puti,? cara y cruz, fruit game machines, ?sakla,? illegal cockfighting, ?loteng? and ?jueteng.?

Out with the old

In Naga City, SPO4 Romulo Olino Fabiano, spokesperson of the Camarines Sur Provincial Police Office, reported Wednesday that the relief of two police officers here coincided with the assumption to office of Senior Supt. Petronio A. Retirado, new acting provincial director, on Jan. 9.

Fabiano declined to comment on the relief of the police officers, saying it was only Calleja who could clarify the matter.

He also declined to reveal the names of the relieved police officers and their status as of late yesterday afternoon.

Fabiano said upon assumption to office, Retirado ordered all chiefs of police in the two cities and 35 municipalities in Camarines Sur to ?conduct a relentless campaign against all forms of illegal gambling, especially the illegal numbers game jueteng.?

Small fry still

He said Calleja issued an ultimatum to all chiefs of police in the province to be decisive in the campaign against the proliferation of jueteng during his visit here on Jan. 14.

But Fabiano revealed that only bet collectors have been apprehended so far and that no jueteng operators have been identified or apprehended until now.

He said it was the intelligence officer and the group director, who were relieved, that have the information on the identities of operators who have been operating in Camarines Sur in the previous years.

Fabiano claimed that the antijueteng campaign, upon the assumption of Retirado as acting provincial director, had yielded positive results and declared that police have put a stop to the illegal numbers game all over Camarines Sur. Rey M. Nasol and Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon