Guangdong police bust online gambling ring

Guangdong police detained 21 suspects, including 15 foreigners, after they busted an online gambling gang in a special operation in the Zhuhai special economic zone bordering Macao in September.

The suspects, who are from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, were organizers of online gambling events and bankers, said Zheng Zehui, director of the social security bureau with Guangdong provincial department of public security.

"The suspects established a gambling website, with a server in the Philippines, and used an online banking service to attract gamblers in the previous months," Zheng said on Wednesday at a news conference in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

More than 11.3 million yuan in gambling money deposited in a bank account owned by the gang was also frozen, while three computers, 130 bank cards of Bank of China, 16 foreign bank cards, and a number of other equipment, were seized after the gang was broken up, Zheng said. The gang also ran secret casinos in Zhuhai, he added.

Meanwhile, Guangdong police in cooperation with their Hong Kong counterparts detained another 23 suspects after they busted another major online gambling gang in Shenzhen in June. The gang illegally organized bets on horse racing, and was investigated to have a betting record of more than 900 million yuan, authorities said.

On Sept 2, police in Zhaoqing, Jieyang and Dongguan detained at least 150 suspects when they cracked a gang that used slot machines to gamble. More than 120 slot machines and more than 90,000 coins which were used to gamble were seized.

In Guangzhou's Nansha district, police detained another 64 suspects in a secret casino in a special operation on Oct 8.

More than 800,000 worth of gambling money, plus many gambling tables and chips, were seized.

According to Zheng, online gambling events, with servers outside the mainland, have become a new trend in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao.

"Police will spare no effort in fighting online gambling events in the following months, refusing to let the southern province become a heaven for gamblers from home and abroad, Zheng said.

Zheng said Guangdong police have busted 395 gambling gangs after they have cracked 848 gambling cases in a special campaign from August to October.

A total of 11,044 suspects have been detained while 86.86 million yuan in gambling money have been seized, Zheng said.

The special campaign has dealt a heavy blow to the province's gambling events, which used to be active in the recent years, he added.