Chinese state media outlet Xinhua, has reported that seventy-seven members of an online gambling group in Fiji who were arrested for allegedly being involved in over 50 cases targeting victims in mainland China, were flown back to China over the weekend.
According to reports, the group managed to pocket close to $900,000 from their scheme while operating from China, Fiji and Indonesia.
The report stated that the group was arrested on 18th July of this year by a team of Chinese police that were sent to Fiji on 2nd July to conduct a series of raids that saw five dens destroyed. Mobile phones, bank cards, computers and other equipment was also confiscated by the Authorities.
It was not mentioned if there was a formal extradition process for the arrested gang.
Gambling is banned in China and the government is keeping its promise to “severely punish” land-based as well as online gambling operators who target Chinese gamblers.
Three locations were raided by police in Shaanzi province a few months ago and 203 individuals were arrested, of whom more than 100 will face criminal charges relating to an online lottery fraud operation.
China has also stepped up its crackdown on cross-border gambling with authorities in Beijing having joined forces with their counterparts in the Philippines to hunt down transnational cyber gambling operations that had shot up in the Southeast Asian country. The two countries managed to shutter four illegal websites, round up 99 people and freeze over 1,000 bank accounts in April.
