Recruiting even middle schoolers for gambling operations and flaunting a lavish lifestyle···In joint cooperation with the UAE, ringleader behind illegal gambling worth around 3 trillion won arrested - 경향신문

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A ringleader behind illegal gambling websites, arrested through cooperation between the government-wide joint ‘Transnational Crime Special Response TF(task force)’ and authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was escorted via Incheon International Airport last July. Yonhap News. The suspect in the photo is not the same individual as those mentioned in the article.

The government, through international cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), arrested three top ringleaders who operated illegal gambling websites totaling 3.1 trillion won.

The government-wide joint ‘Transnational Crime Special Response TF(task force)’ announced on the 14th that it had apprehended in the UAE the main operator A, the deputy operator B, and the developer C behind the illegal gambling sites. B and C were repatriated to Korea via Incheon International Airport the same day. A is to be repatriated soon.

According to the government, A and B are suspected of operating illegal gambling sites worth 2.6 trillion won in places such as the Philippines and Malaysia and laundering large criminal proceeds. They fled overseas in 2016 and are believed to have used third-country passports to launder their identities and evade pursuit by the authorities.

C is understood to have been responsible for developing and operating the software of a separate illegal gambling site, independent of A and B. The ringleader of the site linked to C was arrested in the UAE last July and has been repatriated to Korea. The volume of illegal gambling handled by that site is estimated at around 500 billion won.

South Korean investigative and intelligence authorities, including the police and the National Intelligence Service, determined that A, B, and C had moved to and were staying in the UAE, then launched a joint arrest operation with the UAE authorities. The operation was codenamed ‘HALAK’, meaning ‘ruin·destruction’ in Arabic. The government explained, “It means that gambling leads to family ruin.”

The arrest operation through international cooperation proceeded on the judgment that their criminal conduct was grave. While on the run abroad, A and B invited well-known South Korean figures to visit and flaunted a lavish lifestyle, images of which appeared online and sparked controversy. They also advertised the name of their illegal sports-betting site on the uniforms and in the stadiums of overseas soccer teams.

The organization linked to C had been luring middle school students and using them in illegal gambling operations. The government stated, “They caused serious social problems by mobilizing minors as tools of crime, inducing gambling addiction, and fomenting the spread of juvenile crime.”

The government said it will continue, with the TF at the center, to track down and arrest overseas-based cyber gambling organizations. It added, “To dismantle their economic base, we will strengthen tracing of assets concealed abroad and actively pursue the recovery of criminal proceeds,” and, “Through this, we will firmly uphold the principle that even if they flee overseas, they will inevitably face the judgment of the law.”