Philippine police have arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an online gambling operation allegedly run by Chinese nationals.
Philippine police have arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an online gambling operation allegedly run by Chinese nationals.
Philippine police have arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an online gambling company allegedly run by Chinese nationals.
The Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said police had arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an online gambling company allegedly run by Chinese nationals in a suburb of Manila on February 20, AFP reported.
Security personnel stand guard at the gate of a closed online gambling building in Kawit town in the Philippines’ Cavite province.
CEO MWPlay888
The PAOCC added that initial inquiries showed the suburban location had been operating as a fraud hub, targeting victims in China and India through sports betting and investment schemes.
Among those arrested were 137 Chinese. “We have arrested five Chinese bosses,” PAOCC director Gilberto Cruz told AFP on Thursday, adding that they could face human trafficking charges.
Last year, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos banned online gambling operators, known as POGOs. POGOs have been widely reported to have been used by organized crime groups as fronts for human trafficking, money laundering, online fraud, kidnapping and even murder.
“This raid proves that former POGO operators are continuing their fraudulent activities despite the ban,” Cruz said. Cruz previously told AFP that around 21,000 Chinese nationals had continued to run smaller-scale scams in the Philippines since the online gambling ban.
The February 20 raid was the latest in a series of arrests this year, including a January raid that saw about 400 foreigners arrested in the capital Manila, including many Chinese nationals.