A Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) crime investigation unit has arrested 26 individuals in the United Arab Emirates for operating an illegal gambling site worth more than KRW120bn ($81bn), detaining ten of them.
The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Unit announced the success of its cross-border operation on Monday, along with charges filed against the suspects including “organizing, joining, and operating a criminal organization and opening gambling spaces.”
According to the Chosun Daily, one of the detainees was the thirty-two-year-old mastermind behind the gang, which set up a “shell corporation” in Dubai in 2021 and ran two illegal gambling sites for around four years.
The KNPA believes the gang chose Dubai as their headquarters over the judicial gridlock and rampant money laundering opportunities that running their illegal business from the UAE offered.
The cross-border criminals advertised their illegal sites via social media and YouTube channels, and sent recruited members with promises of “high returns” to the UAE to obtain work visas in Dubai.
managed others’ passports to prevent them from fleeing back to Korea
According to the Chosun Daily, senior gang members managed others’ passports to prevent them from fleeing back to Korea, while all their communications were done via Telegram to avoid police detection.
The KNPA states that its crime unit launched a probe into the gang ten months ago after the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation alerted it to a gambling crime.
The KNPA stated: “We have secured the pre-indictment seizure and preservation of 6.086 billion won [$4.1bn] in criminal proceeds from the mastermind and key executives.”
