LINGAYEN- A total of 31 persons have already been arrested in six towns of Pangasinan in connection with the renewed crackdown on the illegal numbers game called jueteng which hs resurged after several months of lull.

This was the result after only the second day of operation in Pangasinan of the Anti- Gambling Task Force of the Criminal Investigation Detection Group, and the Pangasinan police provincial office.

The task force headed by Senior Superintendent Federico Castro Jr., CIDG chief in the Ilocos region, was assigned to validate the resurgence of jueteng not only in Pangasinan but also in the provinces of La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

The arrests confirmed that jueteng is back in almost all towns of the province whose archbishop, Msgr. Oscar Cruz, is the country’s top anti- jueteng crusader.

All the suspects were arrested in joint operations conducted by the CIDG in the towns of Bayambang, Sta. Barbara, Laoac, San Jacinto, Urbiztondo and Urdaneta City.

Those arrested in Bayambang, Sta. Barbara and Laoac were charged with violation of the anti-gambling law while those arrested in San Jacinto, Urbiztondo and Urdaneta were released after they were reportedly mistaken to be collecting jueteng bets when in fact they were bet solicitors for the “EZ-2” game in legal lotto.

Reports however persist that many jueteng collectors were purposely carrying “EZ-2” cards as “cover”and were under instruction to show these whenever they are accosted by the police to allay suspicions.

A report stated that jueteng is again active in almost all towns of Pangasinan, as confirmed by field lay leaders and other supporters of the archbishop.