TMCnet News
Hong Kong police smashes largest-ever illegal gambling syndicateHONG KONG, Jun 27, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Hong Kong police shattered an illegal gambling syndicate on Sunday, seizing a record of 170 million HK dollars (21.8 million U.S. dollars) betting on soccer and horse-racing online. According to the news released by HK police, it was the biggest ever amount of betting slips seized in a single case, breaking the previous record of over 100 million HK dollars in total from a joint crackdown on a cross-boundary syndicate by Hong Kong and Shenzhen police on June 12. A police officer told a news conference that four men aged between 43 to 58 were arrested in Sunday's operation, including the chief members, and a large number of mobiles phones and computers were seized in an apartment in Kowloon Bay which was believed to be the headquarter. In the joint police action against illegal gambling on soccer, 19 men and six women were arrested in Hong Kong for engaging in bookmaking and money laundering related offenses while 45 were taken into custody in Shenzhen, Guangdong. According to the Gambling Ordinance, anyone who bets with a bookmaker is liable to a fine of 30,000 HK dollars and nine months in prison. (1 U.S. dollar is about 7.8 HK dollars.) |