17 Chinese nationals arrested in Thai online gambling raid

Thailand police in the Chiang Mai province reported Tuesday that in partnership with immigration officials they had broken up an illegal online lottery ring and arrested 17 Chinese nationals.

A large combined police-immigration raiding party of 50 officials carried out the raid on a three-storey house on a private estate, catching 14 men and 3 women – all Chinese nationals – red-handed and using notebook computers in the operation of the illegal online lottery, targeting mainland China punters.

Police said Cheng Kai Yu, the leader of the illegal enterprise, confessed he rented the house on August 5 and used it as the branch of a main operating company in China.

Police Gen. Ruangsak Charit-ek, the deputy national police chief who led the raid, said all of the 17 operators at the Chiang Mai branch arrived in Thailand on tourist visas. Chiang Mai was chosen to locate the illegal business because Thailand’s law on gambling does not carry as heavy penalties as those in China, he said.

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