Chongqing police have cracked a major cross-border online gambling ring after more than three years of hard work, blocking the group's average annual outflow of nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.41 billion), according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The police destroyed the Dream Captain Group, one of the top 10 criminal groups involved in cross-border gambling in China, authorities were quoted as saying in a report published on Saturday in China Police Daily, the ministry's official newspaper.

The key suspect, surnamed Lyu, had returned to Chongqing from overseas and turned himself in, authorities said, adding that all 79 major figures involved in the case and more than 3,900 criminals who also were involved were punished in accordance with the law.

China has stepped up efforts in recent years to crack down on transnational crimes, in order to prevent financial risks and safeguard economic security. In August, the ministry announced plans to strengthen collaboration with law enforcement departments in other countries to crack down on transnational crimes targeting Chinese citizens.

The ministry will deal harsher blows to online gambling, telecommunications fraud, overseas kidnapping and homicide and other organized crime by intensifying cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies in joint investigations, the exchange of evidence and the capture and repatriation of suspects, said Qi Yanjun, vice-minister of public security.

In 2020, the ministry discovered a clue about a cross-border online gambling platform and asked the Chongqing Public Security Bureau for further verification. Chongqing set up a special task force and designated the Nan'an district sub-bureau as the main unit to conduct further investigation.

The task force found out that the multinational gambling platform belongs to the Dream Captain Group in the Philippines. The group is mainly engaged in online gambling in areas including chess, poker and slot machines, and since it was established in 2009, it has developed rapidly and is well known locally and in Southeast Asia, according to authorities.

The group attracted a large number of Chinese gamblers through online advertising and domestic agents in China, resulting in a large amount of capital outflow from China, the authorities said. This fostered cross-border money laundering and other illegal industries, seriously affecting the country's social stability and economic security, they added.

Since all the resource servers and data of the gambling platform were based overseas, Chongqing police decided to focus on the domestic agents and had successfully collected information about them by the end of 2020.

"We carefully analyzed every piece of information and gradually formed a clear mind map to guide our investigation," said Yang Changcheng, deputy director of the Nan'an district sub-bureau.

The task force found that the group uses its seven online gambling platforms to attract gamblers to register as members. The funds of the gamblers on the platform are finally transferred to the group's overseas account through illegal banks, and the group has an average annual income from China outflow of more than 10 billion yuan and net profit of more than 400 million yuan, according to the task force.

Since 2021, under the command of the Ministry of Public Security, the task force has arrested more than 70 key individuals and over 3,700 agents involved in the case, destroyed about 4,300 domestic gambling sites and frozen about 11,000 accounts with a total of more than 300 million yuan. It also has cracked down on seven enterprises involved in gambling and other illegal businesses and 13 illegal payment platforms.

Lyu, the ringleader and key suspect who had fled abroad, was listed as one of the country's top 10 fugitives involved in cross-border gambling, and Interpol had issued a Red Notice for him.

Due to the pressure and persuasive efforts by the police, Lyu flew to Chongqing, took the initiative to report the crime, returned the illegal gains and helped the police shut down all seven online gambling platforms.

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