After several months of investigation, police from the Ministry of Public Security have cracked down on a large-scale gambling den in Bac Ninh Province, the largest ever found in northern Vietnam, arresting over 100 people. Yesterday afternoon more than 200 police officers of the ministry’s Social Crime Investigation Police Department, with a the aid of local police, launched a large raid on the den, which was operating in the Tuan Son Hotel in Dinh Bang Ward, Tu Son Town. The den was managed and operated by 48-year-old Duong Anh Duc, a local man, who secretly opened the den several months ago, said Colonel Ho Si Tien, the head of the department.

Police officers were transported to the hotel at 1 pm Thursday in vans that had been decorated as if they were transporting wedding guests. Police seized the den’s guards on the ground floor of the hotel and then broke into the fourth floor, where gambling was taking place. Police arrested 105 gamblers and people involved in the den’s operation. They also detained a large amount of cash and many gambling tools. Duc charged every gambler VND500,000-VND1 million (US$48) as an admission fee to the den, investigators said. He set up teams of guards to protect the den from being detected by police. If they were found, gamblers would escape to the large rice field behind the hotel. Duc confessed to police that he had organized gambling in many other provinces, including Hung Yen and Hai Duong. Duc often arranged gamblers in a 3,000 square-meter warehouse in the back of the hotel, but yesterday he changed the location, possibly due to the cold weather, police said.

Gamblers detained after police raided a gambling den at the Tuan Son Hotel on November  29 (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Duong Anh Duc's son, Thanh Son, who is among the gamblers arrested in the police raid (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

A room in Tuan Son Hotel used by gamblers for gambling (Photo: Tuoi Tre)