Asian police plan second crackdown on soccer bets

Asian are planning a second crackdown on illegal soccer betting in an operation coordinated by Interpol after hundreds of gambling dens were shut down last year, officers said yesterday.

Interpol, the global police organization, said at a conference that it hopes the success of Operation Soga (short for soccer gambling), which targeted gambling last October, will serve as a model for future cooperation between Interpol and police in the region.

"We've already started planning for the second phase of Soga," Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble said in opening remarks to the agency's Global Conference on Asian Organized Crime.

He said results of the first crackdown were "staggering," but told reporters more work was needed.

"It's like cutting off the head of a Hydra," he said.

The 266 raids last October in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia netted 432 arrests and more than US$680,000 in suspected crime proceeds, Singapore Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui said.

Noble the 272 gambling dens that were dismantled handled an estimated US$680 million in illegal bets worldwide.

"Operation Soga demonstrated what can be achieved by police in our member countries working side-by-side with a common goal," Noble said. "We're hoping that we can bring in more countries in the second phase."

Illegal betting is causing increasing concern after reports last month that dozens of European matches may have been fixed.