Portugal's Renato Sanches in action during the Euro 2016
quarter-final match against Poland (Image used for representational
purposes).
More than 4,000
people have been arrested worldwide and more than $13 million seized
across Asia in operations targeting illegal gambling during the Euro
2016 football tournament, Interpol said on Monday.
The global police cooperation agency, which called the
operation the "most significant in recent years", said more than 4,000
raids were carried out across China, France, Greece, Italy, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam during Operation SOGA VI (short for
soccer gambling) on dens estimated to have handled $649
million worth of bets.
"The number of seizures is the highest and most
significant amongst similar operations in recent years. The SOGA
operations are important for tackling not just illegal gambling, but
also the organised networks behind this and other types of crime," said
Chief Superintendent Chan Lok-wing, Head of Hong Kong's Organised Crime
and Triad Bureau.
A second operation targeted transnational networks behind
illegal websites and call-centre type operations, Interpol said in a
statement from Bangkok.
Reuters was not able to immediately reach Thailand's Interpol director for comment.
The arrests come amid a record spike in illegal online
gambling in China with millions of yuan placed in bets on Euro 2016, a
side-effect of a surge in Chinese interest in global soccer.
Portugal were crowned the Euro 2016 champions on July 10, defeating host nation France 1-0 to win their first major championship.
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