The suspects are seized by the police. — Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Public Security

HÀ NỘI — Nineteen suspects have been prosecuted for organising gambling and gambling, related to a football betting ring across multiple provinces and cities nationwide, declared the Criminal Investigation Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

Through investigation, the department identified a group of suspects organising gambling and gambling on cyberspace.

The ring was directly managed by Nguyễn Viết Duy, 37, permanent residence in Bình Đông Ward, HCM City, who used a super master agent account with a limit of 6 million to 6.5 million points per month.

He divided it into multiple layers of Master, Agent, and Member accounts, which were handed over to other individuals to organise gambling and gambling via football betting for illicit profit.

The Criminal Investigation Department assigned its Division of Social Evils-Related Crimes Prevention and Investigation to gather evidence, establish a task force, and dismantle the ring, prosecuting the suspects in accordance with the law.

On January 28, based on the task force results and requisite conditions, the Criminal Investigation Department submitted a report, which was approved by leaders of the Ministry of Public Security.

It then led a coordinated operation with concerned forces conduct emergency searches and detain 17 suspects in HCM City and An Giang Province.

Authorities seized numerous tools, equipment, items and documents related to organising and conducting gambling on cyberspace.

Based on task force evidence, investigation results, and statements from Nguyễn Viết Duy and other suspects, the wrong doings were established as follows:

From December 2024 until the ring's dismantlement, Duy and associates conspired to split betting agent accounts and distribute them to customers for football betting on numerous matches across various tournaments, deriving illicit profit therefrom, including bets exceeding VNĐ20 million (US$770) per match.

All suspects admitted to settling wins and losses from football bets every Monday, via direct cash payments or transfers through multiple bank accounts.

Preliminary findings indicate that from September last year to last month, approximately 30 million points were used for betting on football matches across the accounts, equivalent to VNĐ900 billion ($34.6 million).

The Criminal Investigation Department expanded the investigation and verified related suspects for prosecution in accordance with the law.

The expansion yielded evidence against two additional suspects for the same crimes. On February 5, the Criminal Investigation Department initiated a criminal case and prosecuted 19 suspects for further investigation.

To date, the task force has been successfully dismantled, with all ringleaders, key figures and related suspects arrested, contributing to security, public order and a warning to those intending to organise gambling activities. — VNS