Lyon/Hamburg - In their fight against the Asian betting mafia the international police organization Interpol already arrested 1,300 suspects last year and confiscated 16 million dollars, an Interpol report showed. During the Operation SOGA II (Soccer Gambling) in May and June 2008, which ran at the same time as the European cup finals and the European championships, some 1,088 illegal gambling dens were closed, many of which were controlled by organized crime.
Interpol believes that as much as 1.5 billion dollars was gambled in this dens.
"SOGA II brought three times as many arrests as the first operation in November 2007. 25 times as much money was confiscated," said Interpol official Jean-Michel Louboutin.
Investigators from France, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam were involved in SOGA II.
During SOGA I in October and November 207 more than 400 people were arrested throughout Asia and 272 illegal gambling dens were closed. 680,000 dollars in cash and assets were confiscated.
