South Korean authorities have extradited and charged a man in his 30s accused of operating an illegal online gambling network with a total wagering volume of KRW10.3 trillion ($7.5 billion), marking his first return to the country in more than a decade.
The Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency announced on Tuesday that the suspect, identified only as A, has been referred to prosecutors on charges including operating illegal gambling platforms. Police allege that A operated online gambling websites using servers based in the Philippines between December 2013 and August 2017. After authorities began arresting members of the organisation who had returned to South Korea, he allegedly relocated key operations to Malaysia and Cambodia in an effort to evade capture.
Investigators said A later supplied gambling game credits to more than 1,400 illegal online gambling sites across South Korea between April 2021 and December 2023, enabling continued unlawful betting activity. Authorities estimate that the gambling network handled total wagers of approximately KRW10.3 trillion ($7.5 billion) during its operation and generated around KRW26 billion ($18.9 million) in criminal proceeds. Police allege that A personally received about KRW6 billion ($4.4 million) from the operation.
To avoid arrest, A allegedly obtained and used fraudulent passports from several countries while moving between Malaysia and Cambodia after leaving the Philippines. Police said he remained a fugitive for more than 10 years as investigators pursued members of the wider organization.
The arrest was carried out through cooperation between South Korea’s Pan-Government Joint Transnational Crime Special Response Task Force and law enforcement authorities in the United Arab Emirates. A was apprehended in the UAE before being extradited to South Korea through Incheon International Airport on 4th July.
The joint task force brings together multiple agencies, including the National Police Agency, Ministry of Justice and National Intelligence Service, to target transnational organized crime. Police described A as one of the country’s leading suppliers of game credits to the illegal online gambling sector.
“We will pursue pre-indictment confiscation and preservation of A’s criminal proceeds and expand the investigation into operators and members of lower-level domestic gambling sites,” a Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency official said. Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing and will focus on dismantling the wider domestic network connected to the overseas gambling operation.
