Vietnamese police have busted a huge illegal online gambling ring, with total gambling amounts reaching VND5 trillion (US$235 million), and arrested 11 people involved.

>> Police detain 6 in $37.7mn gambling ring in central Vietnam>> Vietnam police arrest 6 in swoop on $65.8mn football betting ring>> Thai police arrest more than 1,000 in World Cup betting crackdown After days of investigation, police in central Thanh Hoa Province detained 48-year-old Duong Ba Lieu, the ring’s leader, in a swoop on his house in the province’s Bim Son City on Wednesday evening. Police later arrested 10 other people who were the ring’s members, many of whom have previous convictions, police said.  The arrest was made with the support of a high-tech crime police team from the Ministry of Public and Security, said Colonel Nguyen Huu Du, head of the province’s economic police department. Upon searching the house, police seized VND320 million ($15,000), $900 in cash, five laptops, three desktop computers, two modems and many materials related to gambling activities. Notably, police also found and seized three shotguns and four swords and knives. Lieu installed a camera system to guard the house around the clock, police said. All the detainees were professional gamblers who gambled through two websites that Lieu bought from Tran Thi An, a woman in Nam Dinh Province, police said, adding that they are hunting for An. Lieu organized the gambling but he also sold accounts to others for online gambling and charged them VND30 million ($1,410) to VND200 million ($9,410) each time they gambled. As shown on the books and materials confiscated by police, the ring has attracted a large number of gamblers not only in Thanh Hoa but also in Nam Dinh Province, Ninh Binh Province – both in the north – and other provinces. The ring began to operate earlier this year and the total amount spent by gamblers amounted to about VND5 trillion, investigators said. Police are expanding their investigation into the case to trace others involved. Another huge gambling and football-betting ring was also busted by police in central Thua Thien-Hue Province about a week ago, with the total amount spent by bettors and gamblers equaling $37.7 million. In their raid on the ring on July 5, police initially detained six people involved in the ring, which was led by Vo Van Nhan, 31, a resident of the province’s capital – Hue City.

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