10 Koreans arrested for illegal gambling site

MANILA, Philippines - At least 10 Koreans, two of them women, were arrested for maintaining an illegal online gambling site during raids on separate units of the Serendra Condominium in Taguig City Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, who heads the police Anti-Cybercrime Group, said the raid stemmed from a request from South Korean authorities for help in locating eight fugitives who allegedly fled Seoul and moved their illegal online gambling operation to the Philippines, Sosa said. The gambling site receives payments from Korean bettors via online banking and credit cards.

Sosa said two of the men arrested – Lee Youn Ju and Jin Ho Lee – were among those wanted in Seoul, and phones, identification cards, computers and network devices were among the items seized.

They were arrested on the strength of a search warrant issued by a Manila judge for violating the country’s illegal gambling laws and regulations on the use of access devices for commercial transactions.

The government has also recently cracked down on operators of online child pornography sites and cybersex chat rooms that cater to paying viewers around the world. – With AP