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SCMP Reporter

A highly sophisticated triad-run gambling operation which took in more than $20 million in bets on the opening match of the soccer World Cup has been smashed by police.

The betting slips seized for the game between France and Senegal - who upset the odds by beating the reigning world champions 1-0 - were almost the equivalent of the total amount of illegal bets police seized for the whole of last year.

Last night, the head of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB) said more raids were planned as the authorities attempted to wipe out the syndicates that control Hong Kong's massive underworld gambling networks.

The raid came less than 24 hours after police chiefs warned crime bosses they would be ruthless in clamping down on the rackets, which intelligence reports indicate will rake in unprecedented amounts on the World Cup in Japan and Korea over the next month.

In an operation which had been planned for weeks, teams of officers from the OCTB raided a flat in Ngau Tau Kok and arrested four men, police said yesterday.

A total of $60,000 in cash was seized.

The acting head of the OCTB, Lo Mung-hung, said the four men arrested, aged between 22 and 40, were understood to be members of the 14K triad gang.

Last night they were being questioned at police headquarters in Wan Chai. Mr Lo believed the syndicate was affiliated to another 14K gang police raided in Yuen Long at the same time, where a weapons cache and a large quantity of smuggled goods were seized.

He described the bookmaking centre as 'well-organised and sophisticated'.

Inside the flat, detectives discovered computers, televisions, cable-TV decoders, mobile phones and a paper shredder.

'They took bets from punters mainly by telephone,' Mr Lo said.

'The suspects installed a closed-circuit television system in the building to monitor people going in and out. If there was any alert, they intended to immediately destroy all evidence,' he said.

Separately, officers broke up another smaller soccer betting syndicate in Western district.

Two men were arrested and $450,000 in betting slips seized.

It was not linked with the Ngau Tau Kok syndicate, investigators said.

Underlining the authorities' attack on the syndicates, Police Commissioner Tsang Yam-pui said he hoped illegal football gambling would cool down as a result of the raids.

He said police would carry on raids against underground bookmakers even after the World Cup.

'The result of last night is based on the work of many months, rather than recently received information,' he said.

Mr Lo said the police would continue to make raids throughout the World Cup. 'We have targeted several soccer betting syndicates and we will take further action. Last night is just the tip of the iceberg,' he said.

He said the amount seized yesterday was much higher than in non-World Cup periods. 'It's a very sophisticated syndicate. We seized $24 million worth of illegal soccer betting slips throughout the whole of 2001 and arrested 120 suspects.

'This time we seized $20 million in one single case. I hope later I will have more results to show.'

More than 150 OCTB officers took part in the raids, along with other police involved in illegal gambling crackdowns, inspecting 400 bars, pubs and entertainment parlours.

Raid 'cripples' triads - Page 4



Police smash $20m betting ring