Largest online gambling case in 66 years cracked

Equipment seized by Guangdong police are seen in this undated photo. More than 40 servers and computers, 55 bank cards and 28 deposit books were seized during the special operation. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Guangdong police have detained a total of 1,071 suspects after they busted a major online gambling ring in a special operation, according to a senior police officer.

Most of the suspects detained are bankers, gang members and technicians who developed software and websites for online gambling, said Lu Feng, director of the general office with Guangdong provincial department of public security, on Wednesday.

According to Lu, 15 suspected gang leaders and members have been transferred to the procuratorial organ for prosecution.

"More than 330 million yuan ($52.8 million) in gambling money deposited in bank accounts owned by the gang have also been frozen," said Lu.

"It is, so far, the largest online gambling case that has ever been cracked on the mainland since the founding of People's Republic of China in 1949 according to statistics revealed by the Ministry of Public Security," Lu told a press conference in Guangzhou.

This is the largest number of suspects detained and the largest amount of gambling money ever seized by police in a single case, Lu said.

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

The operation, code named "221", was mainly launched in the cities of Shantou and Chaozhou in eastern part of Guangdong on Dec 21 after several months of investigation.

Yu Canxian, director of online security under Guangdong department of public security, said the gang had established more than 200 gambling websites and platforms, with servers in overseas regions and countries, and used online banking services to attract gamblers.

The gang had attracted more than 400,000 members to illegally bet on lottery tickets in the mainland and Hong Kong, Yu said.