Kenya will deport any foreigners involved in illegal gambling activity as the campaign against Chinese-owned gambling machines intensifies.

On Monday, Kenyan media quoted Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matlangi saying that the illegal gambling machines that have proliferated in retail shops across the country were “a threat to our society” and the government “shall not accept” their continued existence.

Matlangi (pictured) was speaking at the symbolic torching of gambling machines brought into Kenya illegally. Most of the machines originated in China, and their operators could find themselves on a one-way trip back to China should they be caught by local authorities.

Kenya sought to bar the importation of gambling machines way back in January 2017, following Betting Control and Licensing Board chairman Anthony Kimani Kungu’s claim that the bulk of the illegal machines were “installed by some Chinese in cahoots with some unscrupulous businessmen, especially bar owners.”