Many of them, apart from those operating illegally, are also challenging the authorities by going against the regulations for such outlets -- they operate 24 hours a day and allow students in uniform to hang out in their premises.

Johor Baru City Council enforcement director Abd Rahman Abdullah said the council was monitoring the cyber cafes, some of which had become a hideout for truants and places for immoral activities.

"In the first half of the year, we carried out four raids and found out that many were unlicensed.

"On top of that, the cyber cafes were not providing an ambience for students to obtain educational materials from the Internet. They were mostly online game centres."

Abd Rahman said some children had been known to be wasting a lot of time and money at the cafes. More worrying, they also skipped classes.

"About 200 students have been caught at cyber cafes during school hours."

Several illegal cyber cafes have been raided by the city council. The premises were later sealed and the operators had to pay compound fines.