India busts bookie-in-a-briefcase illegal online cricket betting ops

Authorities in India have busted what they’re calling one of the largest illegal cricket betting operations they’ve uncovered in recent years.

On Monday, Indian media outlets reported that police and Income Tax agents in the state of Harayan had rumbled a cricket betting ring operating out of a residential building in the city of Gurugram (Gurgaon). The operation also involved searches of buildings in Goa, Delhi, Noida and Kolkata that began on Friday.

Police recovered a variety of technical tools, including more of those ingenious bookie-in-a-briefcase set-ups (pictured) that allow operators to more easily shift most of their technology to new locations in case the cops close in. Except this time, the cops were apparently too fleet of foot to permit such a relocation.

Police reported that their investigation stemmed from an originally unrelated probe of unspecified Goa casino operators using the informal hawala money transfer system to facilitate high-value betting. Sources told The Hindu that this was “a new sector being searched for the first time.”