More than 100 police officers have been mobilized to raid tens of suspicious locations of a large football betting gang in Ho Chi Minh City, arresting 21 gang members.

A police force from the Ministry of Public Security coordinated with their colleagues in the city to conduct their crackdowns on 19 locations of the ring on Sunday, the ministry’s Criminal Police Department reported on Monday.

The kingpin, 31-year-old Bui Tuan Anh, hailing from Nam Dinh Province, was arrested along with his 20 accomplices during the raids.

All these gang members have been detained for investigations into gambling, and illegal hoarding and use of military weapons, the department said.

Prominent among Anh’s associates was Tran The Vinh, who always kept a gun with him and was assigned to directly settle any conflicts that occurred during their activities.

The racket had nearly 50 members who operated mainly in boundary areas between the city and Binh Duong and Dong Nai Provinces.

The members had committed many assault cases but its victims did not dare to report them to police for fear of revenge, police said.

The racket began operating in mid-2019 and it had organized bets totaling tens of billions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 billion equals US$43,600) every night during the current 2020 UEFA European Football Championship before the police raids, Anh admitted to investigators.

As shown in their bank accounts, the total value of the bets performed through the gang during the past two years topped VND1.5 trillion ($65.5 million).

Searching the residences of the gang members, police found and seized many shotguns and ammunition, scimitars, machetes and swords, along with equipment used for betting activities.

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