Police have identified more than four big illegal online football betting syndicates which have been active in the country for some years now with bets placed amounting to over RM1 billion.

Federal CID director Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said a special unit was set up in April to monitor the syndicates believed to be masterminded by several individuals with the title of "Datuk" and information technology (IT) experts.

He said some of these "Datuk" had been arrested before for the same offence.

"We have been monitoring these syndicates run by locals since a month ago and we are investigating whether they are linked to international betting syndicates," he told a news conference at his office in Kuala Lumpur today.

Mohd Bakri said the monitoring unit would also work with Interpol to trace the illegal gambling activity at the international level.

He said the syndicates were also believed to be working hand in glove with Ah Long (loan sharks) who provided quick loans to those indulging in illegal betting.

"We will continuously monitor betting activities wherever they are and whether they are legal or not," he added.

Mohd Bakri said the betting syndicates were believed to be hiring IT graduates who were offered lucrative salaries to operate the illegal activity.

He said besides having their own premises from where they operated, the syndicates were also using cyber cafes for people to place their bets.

The CID chief said an operation known as Ops Soga (soccer games) was drawn up under the monitoring unit at each state police contingent headquarters a month ago to monitor illegal betting during the FIFA World Cup tournament beginning this Friday.

Mohd Bakri said since Ops Dadu was carried out nationwide, 3,384 arrests were made from January to May this year compared with 2,454 in the same period in 2009.

He said during that period this year, 6,004 raids were conducted with 28,221 computers confiscated compared with 2,345 raids made and 18,748 computers seized in the same period last year.

He warned illegal betting syndicates that police, whether at the district, state or federal level, would go all out to track down their activities.

- Bernama