Vadym Troyan, the acting Chief of Criminal Police in Kiev, Ukraine, has revealed that his organization managed to break up a large-scale illegal gambling ring owned by Russian and Lithuanian nationals which operated 18 websites with a staff of 120 which included IT professionals, web designers, online games developers and administrators in Kiev.
All the employees claimed that they were not aware of being engaged in an illegal enterprise, which officials appear to accept. However, they detained 20 people who they found to be involved directly in the core gambling ring.
According to Troyan, a police, cyber-crime and prosecutorial task force of 80 officials were assisted by the local postal and telecommunications authorities in their investigation into the ring, which is alleged to have targeted online punters in Russia and Europe.
Troyan added that the enterprise generated approximately €400,000 a month and that the equivalent of US$97,000 was seized by the police during the raid of the premises, as well as an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, documentary and electronic evidence.
The Police Chief claimed that jewelry and drugs that had been acquired by the principals in the operation with some of the money from the illegal operation was also confiscated during the police raid. The organizers of the ring could also face charges relating to a criminal scheme that saw them fraudulently obtain Ukrainian citizenship and passports.
Gambling, save for lottery games, is illegal in the Ukraine and the activity has been banned for 7 years.
The trade body of the Ukrainian Gaming Industry Association has, however, called a press conference in Kiev recently to appeal to the government to lift the ban on Ukrainian gambling.