More than 3,760 suspects from 949 gangs have been detained, according to Zou Wenqiang, deputy-director of the Special Case Department of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security.

Mark Six lotteries are a legal form of gambling in Hong Kong, but are illegal on the Chinese mainland.

Addressing a press conference Tuesday, Zou said the suspects included bankers and gamblers from Taiwan Province, and Hong Kong and Macao regions.

Zou said police across the province had uncovered 15,210 underground Mark Six gambling cases during the special campaign, which was started at the end of last November, dealing a heavy blow to the province's underground gambling activities.

And a large number of computers, fax machines, mobile phones, printers, automobiles, copies of newspapers connected with Hong Kong Mark Six lotteries on the mainland and many other items connected with gambling were also seized during the campaign, which ended on September 5.

The special crackdown has made significant gains in the fight against illegal gambling and brought the province's previously active secret Mark Six lottery network under control, Zou said.

In July, Dongguan police raided a big secret Mark Six lottery base run by a trading company funded by Shenzhen-based Taiwan investors, detaining 6 suspects from Taiwan and another 10 from the Chinese mainland.

It is the first time that a Mark Six lottery base operated by a company in Guangdong Province has been uncovered.

The investigation found that 15 million yuan (US$1.81 million) in funds had been raised by the lottery for Hong Kong and Taiwan's Mark Six gambling networks.

In previous years, all the underground Mark Six lotteries uncovered were run by private investors.

And the lottery operation in Changping Township, where a large number of Taiwan-funded companies are operating, is the biggest Mark Six lottery to have been destroyed in Guangdong.

Despite the achievement, Zou has promised to continue to fight gambling in the province in the following years to ensure a better investment climate for economic construction and a better living environment for local residents and tourists.

This year, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security and the public security bureaus of 12 other major cities have also established special task forces to fight against gambling.

Zou also urged people involved in gambling, including bankers, to confess their crimes to police and relevant government departments.

(China Daily September 18, 2002)