Busting a gambling ring of over 100 billion VND in the form of lottery and betting

On December 27, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police said that under the direct direction of the Provincial Police leaders and the Chief of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency, the unit had just coordinated with Nghi Loc District Police and related units to successfully destroy a large-scale gambling ring in the form of recording lottery numbers in Vinh City and neighboring districts, arresting 10 subjects, seizing many related exhibits, and initially clarifying the gambling amount of more than 100 billion VND.

Through the work of grasping the situation, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Police discovered a group of subjects gambling by buyinglot numbers, lottery numberslarge scale, with the participation of many subjects in many localities (concentrated in Vinh city and Nghi Loc district) led by Dinh Thi Chung (born 1968), residing in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city, Nghe An province.

The subjects in the case and evidence. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Chung has two previous convictions for gambling. Chung also has nine assistants, level 1 and level 2 agents, who receive lottery numbers and then transfer them to Chung for management.

Identifying this as a large-scale gambling ring, operating professionally and causing disorder, with gambling transactions ranging from 800 million to 1.7 billion VND/day, the Criminal Police Department reported to the Provincial Police leadership to establish a special project to fight.

After a period of monitoring and determining that there was sufficient basis to solve the case, from December 15-20, 10 working groups were deployed to arrest and simultaneously search the residences of 10 subjects in Vinh city and Nghi Loc district (Nghe An province), seizing 14 mobile phones and many related exhibits. The authorities also froze 5 bank accounts of the subjects.

In addition to Dinh Thi Chung, 9 other subjects were arrested by the authorities, including 4 subjects who are Chung's level 1 agents, residing in Vinh city and Nghi Loc district, including: Tang Ngoc Thinh (born 1980), Dau Ngoc Cuong (born 1976), both residing in Vinh city; Nguyen Thi Bich (born 1982), Le Thi Minh (born 1986), both residing in Nghi Loc district; and 05 subjects who are Chung's level 2 agents, including 4 subjects residing in Vinh city, including: Nguyen Thi Tinh (born 1981), Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hien (born 1969), Le Thi Mai (born 1974), Dau Thi Thuy (born 1982) and 1 subject residing in Nghi Loc district, Nguyen Cong Uoc (born 1987).

During the investigation, the authorities initially determined that in order to operate the gambling ring, Dinh Thi Chung directed her subordinate agents to create Telegram and Zalo accounts using junk SIM cards, then receive and transfer lottery boards from players to Chung to calculate and pay out wins and losses. During the time of receiving boards and calculating lottery results, the subject often stayed in solid houses, designed in the style of "tiger cages" with many layers of iron doors, installed with surveillance cameras, frequently changing phone numbers, changing payment times and methods to deal with the authorities.

Initially, the investigation agency determined that the amount of money the subjects used for gambling up to the time of arrest was more than 110 billion VND. On the day of arrest alone, the police agency proved that the subjects used more than 900 million VND for gambling.

Currently, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province is detaining the suspects and continuing to investigate and expand.