Sunday, November 05, 2006

Hong Kong- Police have arrested eight men and seized betting records
totaling 1.4 million US dollars following a raid on a triad-controlled
gambling gang, a media report said Friday. Investigators believe the gang
hired overseas accomplices to watch European football matches and phone the
gang every time a goal was scored. This enabled syndicate members to place a
bet online seconds before internet bookmakers updated their web pages, the
South China Morning Post said, quoting police sources. Police commissioner
Dick Lee Ming-kwai said: "Initial investigation showed that the gang was
controlled by a Wo Shing Wo triad gang and they had been in operation since
August." Officers seized eight computers, 10 account books and eight mobile
phones in the raid which was made about 30 minutes before European Champions
League matches kicked off. Computer experts from the Commercial Crime Bureau
will examine the computers to check on betting records. Police said one of
the eight suspects had been among 20 people arrested in another
anti-soccer-gambling operation in the Yuen Long district in January last
year.