13 arrested for online football betting
Police in this central province have detained 13 suspects for running football pools on the Internet worth a total of more than VND1.3 trillion (US$57.8 million).
The authorities, on April 10, seized 20 mobile phones, five computers, two self-constructed guns and some VND1 billion (US$44,440) when they searched 14 sites suspected of running online football pools.
According to the initial investigation, the leader of the gang, Nguyen The Hieu, 33, confessed that he and Nguyen Thanh Trung, 49, had bought a betting website for US$200,000.
This is the biggest case of its kind in the province, with hundreds of participants and large amounts of exchanged money, an official said.
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| Nguyen Thanh Trung (left), Nguyen The Hieu (middle) and other suspects. –– Photo tinmientrung.com |
“The leader of the gang used sophisticated tricks. He did not install betting machines in his house but only used mobile tools with a dual security system from registration to the exchange of money,” Trinh Van Son, an official at Thanh Hoa Province’s economic police department, said.
This gang only held the money for international football matches through their mobile phones and the Internet, and the payment was done through the banks. The suspects had deleted all related data from their phones and computers after each exchange, he added.
The leaders acted spontaneously when they used self-constructed guns to threaten participants who owed them money, he said.
The case is under investigation.
