Hong Kong police break up triad-run gambling syndicate that took in billions in bets this year
- Officers arrest 18 people suspected of illegal bookmaking activities in a series of raids across Kowloon and New Territories
- Police seize HK$8.5 million in cash in suspects’ homes, and freeze HK$19.5 million in accounts believed to be linked to ring
A triad-controlled Hong Kong bookmaking syndicate that took in more than HK$3.4 billion (US$438 million) in illegal bets on horse racing and football matches in the first four months of this year was broken up in a series of raids on Sunday.
Four luxury vehicles suspected to have been bought with criminal proceeds, including two Maseratis, were also impounded by police.
Officers from the organised crime and triad bureau found and confiscated the handwritten records on Sunday afternoon when they raided a Tin Shui Wai flat allegedly used by the syndicate as its illegal betting centre.
During the operation, officers froze 70 bank accounts containing about HK$19.5 million that they suspected the racket had earned through its bookmaking business.
Officers also seized more than HK$8.5 million in cash from the flats of the alleged ringleader and his core associates.
The arrests were made after a months-long investigation that culminated in raids across Kowloon and the New Territories on Sunday.
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According to the force, the 18 suspects – 16 men and two women – included the suspected ringleader, his wife and three key figures in the racket.
“Our investigation revealed that the syndicate had been in operation for about a year,” Chief Inspector Hui Hong-kit of the organised crime bureau said.
The members of the syndicate had a “clear division of work”, he added, noting the gang recruited bookies to find punters who then placed bets on horse races and football matches by phone and text message.
“The amount of a single bet reached as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars,” one police source said, adding punters paid a commission of 0.5 per cent of the amount of each bet.
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According to police, the transactions between the bookies and punters were conducted in cash, which the chief inspector said had “made investigations more difficult”.
“The crime proceeds were then laundered through different accounts that were controlled by relatives of the syndicate’s core figures,” Hui said.
He added that he believed the operation had successfully dismantled the illegal betting ring.
The 18 suspects were accused of money laundering, bookmaking or betting with a bookmaker. Most of the male suspects are also believed to be members of the Wo Shing Wo triad society.
Separately, officers from the Wan Chai district crime squad arrested five people and seized HK$175,000 in cash along with phone records detailing HK$2.3 million worth of illegal bets in another crackdown on a bookmaking racket on Saturday.
Acting chief superintendent Ho Chun-tung said that since June 1, police had arrested 168 people in two anti-gambling operations code-named “Crowbeak” and “Windshield”.
“As the Euro 2020 tournament kicked off recently, police will continue to crack down on illegal gambling activities, especially bookmaking,” he added.
In Hong Kong, money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail and a HK$5 million fine.
Under the Gambling Ordinance, anyone convicted of bookmaking faces a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and a HK$5 million fine. Betting with a bookmaker is punishable by up to nine months in prison and a HK$30,000 fine.
