Vietnam Police said on Monday that it has arrested more than 380 Chinese nationals for allegedly running an illegal online gambling operation worth USD 435 million in the port city of Hai Phong.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, the arrests were made on Saturday after police raided numerous buildings and discovered machines and devices designed for online gambling activities, including nearly 2,000 smartphones, 533 laptops, cash and ATMs.
The detained Chinese nationals, aged between 18 and 24, were operating online gambling websites from more than 100 rooms at a tightly-guarded urban area in the Hai Phong City, located 100 kilometres east of capital Hanoi. The ring had successfully processed transactions worth more than $435m, police alleged.
"This is a criminal orgsation with a new and sophisticated method of operation, implemented on cyberspace, orgsed under the 'cover' of foreign investment enterprises in Vietnam," the statement said.
"This case also involves the largest number of foreigners and the largest amount of gambling and online betting ever discovered in Vietnam."
It may be noted that gambling is illegal in Vietnam in most cases, but foreigners are allowed to gamble in local casinos. Last year, the country had said that it would allow some local citizens to gamble at local casinos.
( With inputs from ANI )