Major gambling ring shut down

Guangdong police have detained 1,071 suspects after breaking up a major online gambling ring in a special operation, according to a senior police officer.

Most of the detained suspects are bankers, key gang members and technicians who developed software and websites for online gambling, said Lu Feng, director of the general office of the Guangdong Department of Public Security.

Fifteen suspected gang heads and key members have been transferred to procuratorial units for prosecution, Lu told a news conference in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

"More than 330 million yuan ($53.2 million) in gambling money deposited in bank accounts owned by the gang has also been frozen," he said.

"It is, so far, the largest online gambling case that has ever been cracked on the Chinese mainland since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, according to the Ministry of Public Security," he said.

"Police have detained the largest number of suspects and seized the largest amount of gambling money on the mainland in a single case," Lu said.

Meanwhile, a large number of bank cards, deposit books, notebook computers, servers, mobile phones, cars and other equipment were seized during the operation, in which more than 6,000 police officers participated, he said.

The operation, code-named "221", was mainly launched in the cities of Shantou and Chaozhou in eastern Guangdong on Dec 21.

Yu Canxian, director of online security under the Guangdong Department of Public Security, said the gang had once established more than 200 gambling websites and platforms, with servers in Thailand and Taiwan, and used online banking services to attract gamblers in recent months.