Chinese police continue to hunt groups of gamblers who congregate in abandoned buildings, fields, and forests in an attempt to evade detection.
In their latest raid, officers in the Honggu District of Lanzhou, in Gansu Province, arrested 34 people, the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau announced in an official release.
The group was found in an abandoned house on a commercial street, police said. Detectives seized over 90,000 yuan in cash at the scene, worth over $13,000.
The raid was part of a crackdown codenamed Operation Spring Thunder.
Chinese Police Scour Abandoned Buildings for Gambling Dens
The operation is a response to a rise in so-called “forest gambling,” which sees gamblers avoid heavily policed areas by congregating in condemned or empty buildings to place bets. Other “forest gambling” groups choose rural spots that police seldom patrol.
Police have grown wise to this and are using drone technology and other solutions to track illegal gambling rings.
Their efforts have produced results. In recent weeks, officers have arrested suspected gambling ring members in rural cemeteries, near train stations, and woodland areas.
As part of their Honggu operations, police explained that they had launched a multi-departmental investigation, along with the Public Security Brigade and colleagues from Ping’an.
Officers tracked the gambling group for weeks, conducting “comprehensive analysis and in-depth investigations.”
They said their investigation revealed that the ring was “tightly organized with a clear division of labor.”
Some of the ring’s organizers were allegedly tasked with preparing the venue for patrons. Others worked on stake collection and payout processing. Others still took up lookout duties, police said.
Careful Planning
Detectives said they investigated the gambling ring’s activity patterns, organizational structure, and plans for the building ahead of the raid.
Several suspects, including two individuals surnamed Xu and one surnamed Ma, reportedly confessed to “repeatedly organizing gambling activities,” involving a range of dice-based games.
Police have retained eight suspects in custody ahead of a court hearing. These individuals, police say, were the ring’s main organizers.
Detectives said the remaining 26 arrestees were patrons. The authorities have issued all of these patrons with undisclosed administrative penalties.
The bureau said the case is still active as police hunt for additional suspected patrons and organizers associated with the ring.
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Chinese police continue to hunt groups of gamblers who congregate in abandoned buildings, fields, and forests in an attempt to evade detection. In their latest raid, officers in the Honggu District of Lanzhou, in Gansu Province, arrested 34 people, the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau announced in an official release. The group was found in an
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