Nghe An takes strong measures to prevent gambling crimes

A series of large gambling lines were dismantled.

Late in the afternoon of March 10, 2021, Vinh City Police detectives surrounded and broke into house number 4, lane 101, Le Quy Don street, Hung Loc commune. This is the private home of Hoang Van Trung (born in 1986) and caught the subjects red-handed.gambleAt the scene, the police seized 15 mobile phones, 1 car used to transport the gamblers, 879 plastic-coated 1,000 VND bills and 150 million VND in cash. 11 subjects were taken to the police station for investigation and clarification.

Eleven people were arrested for gambling at house number 4, lane 101, Le Quy Don street, Hung Loc commune, Vinh city. Photo courtesy of Trong Tuan

Among the 11 people arrested, there were 4 subjects organizing gambling: Nguyen Van Cuong (born in 1991), Nguyen Trong Dan (born in 1990), Nguyen Van Ha (born in 1990), all residing in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city and Thai Thanh Thuy (born in 1988, residing in Huong Son district, Ha Tinh); 1 subject is the owner of the gambling den, Hoang Van Trung and 6 other subjects participated in gambling. The gambling method of these subjects is to stipulate that each 1000 VND bill has a gambling value equivalent to 1 million VND. With the number of 879 1000 VND bills, it shows that the amount of money used by thegamblerused to gamble at this casino up to billions of dong.

Previously, on the afternoon of November 25, 2020, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Police issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecuting 8 subjects in a gambling ring using high technology in Vinh City and Nghi Loc District. This ring operated under the "control" of Nguyen Thi Hau (born in 1987), residing in Hamlet 2, Nghi Trung Commune, Nghi Loc District. Hau organized a gambling ring with dozens of agents operating in Vinh City and Nghi Loc District in the form of receiving lottery tickets from agents through software to calculate the winning and losing results, then paying the agents in cash or by bank transfer with a daily gambling transaction amount of more than 1 billion VND.

The subjects in the inter-provincial gambling ring were arrested and prosecuted by the city police. Photo: Quynh Trang

The Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Police arrested 8 subjects, including Nguyen Thi Hau and 7 subjects who are agents in Vinh City and Nghi Loc. Among the agents is Ho The Kiem (born in 1988), residing in Block 6, Quan Hanh Town, Nghi Loc District, a level 1 agent and a notorious criminal with a criminal record. The police also clarified that the amount of money gambled on November 13 was 1.7 billion VND; initially proving that the amount of money gambled was more than 1 billion VND.

In April 2021 alone, the City Police arrested and prosecuted 18 defendants (10 defendants were temporarily detained) for gambling in the form of online lottery or online applications; clarifying the gambling amount of more than 109 billion VND. In 11 months of 2020, the police force fought, arrested, and handled 975 cases, 4,350 gambling subjects, collecting nearly 11 billion VND. Of which, many major projects and cases were repeatedly commended and rewarded by the Ministry of Public Security, the Provincial Party Committee, and the Provincial People's Committee. Especially, hitting and hitting hard on crimes using high technology to gamble and organize gambling, the Provincial Police have eliminated 15 lines, dens, and groups that organized gambling and gambled using high-tech tricks, proving that the amount of gambling transactions amounted to hundreds of billions and thousands of billions of VND.

In addition to traditional forms of gambling (small-scale gambling among the people, taking advantage of the public and legal operation of lottery ticket agents to organize gambling in the form of recording lottery numbers in the city and town areas, and taking advantage of holidays, New Year, weddings, funerals, etc.), in recent years, subjects have thoroughly exploited the Internet, telecommunications networks, and applied information technology to gambling activities in many forms, such as: football betting, recording lottery numbers via the Internet,online gamblingunder the guise of online games that exchange virtual money for real money and vice versa...

Investigators take statements from gambling participants. Photo: Bong Mai

In the coming time, the Provincial Police will continue to focus on advising and directing the synchronous implementation of measures to prevent and combat crimes and gambling in the whole province, including some key contents such as closely coordinating with all levels, sectors, information and communication agencies to promote propaganda work to prevent and combat crimes and gambling, in conjunction with promoting the movement of the entire people to protect national security. Strengthening state management of security and order, focusing on checking household registration, temporary residence, temporary absence, checking service establishments such as restaurants, hotels, motels, bars, cafes, karaoke, etc.; stepping up patrols and controls at all routes and locations to proactively prevent, detect and arrest criminals and gambling.

Coordinate well in managing and inspecting lottery ticket agents and contract employees, Internet and telecommunications service businesses; proactively detect subjects who take advantage of lottery ticket sales to commit fraud.lotteries;websites operating online gambling; thereby directing effective prevention and combat solutions.

Many high-tech gambling rings with amounts up to tens of billions of dong have been dismantled. Photo: Provided by the police.

At the same time, continue to recommend that specialized and competent authorities tighten loopholes in the use of telecommunications scratch cards and electronic payment wallets to serve disguised gambling lines; tighten management of server rental services, server hosting, domain names, etc. Coordinate with the People's Procuracy and People's Court at the same level to select major gambling cases as model cases to focus on investigating, prosecuting and strictly trying them according to the provisions of law.
At the meeting of the Internal Affairs bloc on April 29, the work of suppressing all types of crimes, including drug crimes, murder, gambling, and public disorder was also one of the tasks assigned by comrade Nguyen Van Thong - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee to the relevant agencies, especially the Provincial Police. Accordingly, the forces need to strengthen professional measures to grasp the situation, fight fiercely against all types of crimes, proactively have solutions to prevent, fight, arrest, and handle early, not to let complications arise, causing public outrage, especially before, during, and after the election of National Assembly deputies and People's Councils at all levels.

Hoai Thu