Police Arrest 81 During Raids On Gambling Dens

Police say they believe they have busted a triad-controlled gambling and drug-dealing syndicate after arresting 81 people in more than a dozen suspected gambling dens on Hong Kong Island.

Officers alleged on Monday that the operators of these venues also offered free drugs, including low-quality ice, to their customers.

Police said more than a hundred officers took part in the operation last Wednesday, during which they raided 14 suspected gambling dens and one street gambling hotspot.

They said the arrested persons were aged between 21 and 77.

They are suspected of offences including managing a gambling establishment, drug trafficking, claiming to be a triad member, possessing an offensive weapon, money laundering, and contravening their conditions of stay in Hong Kong.

Fixed penalty tickets were given to 62 people for allegedly breaching the gathering ban, and seven people for violating the mask-wearing order.

Chief Inspector Tse Tsz-kwan from Hong Kong Island’s Regional Anti Triad Unit said officers seized some 31 gambling games, around HK$40,000 worth of ice and cannabis buds, and around HK$40,000 in cash.

He said the operators and their clients had used electronic payment systems such as the Faster Payment System and Alipay to transfer money, allegedly in order to make it more difficult for the police to seize their revenue.

Tse said officers are still trying to trace the remaining proceeds.

“This is a new modus operandi when compared to previous operations. Maybe they found that it’s easy for them to open accounts in some virtual banks and it’s easy for them to transfer the money to mainland and other banks,” he said.

“We’ll try to dig out the account holder, the detail of the account holder, and trace the crime proceeds. Freezing the crime proceeds is one of our options. But we still need time to trace them,” Tse said.

Senior inspector Leung Tsz-ki, meanwhile, said that as gaming arcades have been ordered to shut down under current social-distancing rules, the alleged offenders had made use of the opportunity to open gambling dens in rented flats to attract customers.