Society

48 arrested in NE China web soccer gambling

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-22 17:04

SHENYANG - An illegal online soccer gambling syndicate has been cracked with 48 arrested before the South Africa World Cup, Chinese police in the northeastern province of Liaoning's capital city Shenyang said on Tuesday.

It's a major web soccer gambling case smashed by Shenyang police with a record-high betting slips of 100 million yuan (about $14.66 million) after a two-month investigation.

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Fourty-eight suspects were taken into custody, including the core members of the syndicate, Lin Donghui, Chen Yong and Lin Haixuan, while another three were detained in the crackdown.

Police also seized over 420,000 yuan in cash, 50 computers, and froze some 1.03 million yuan back accounts belonging to the gang's members.

According to the police's anti-gambling group, the web bookmaking bloc came to operate since last November and was broken in early March in a raid involving 400 plus officers.

The Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, and other relevant departments launched a crackdown on online gambling in February.

Police nationwide had cracked 740 online gambling cases, arrested more than 3,600 suspects and frozen 700 million yuan (about $102 million) in funds, since the crackdown was launched.

Chinese police have pledged to intensify the crackdown on online gambling during the FIFA World Cup.