Police in Belarus say they have shut down a network of illegal migrants who operated online casino sites while posing as software developers.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had arrested two 53-year-old citizens of an unnamed country in the Middle East.
The duo set up bogus Belarusian IT firms to provide cover for their operations, the ministry said in a post on its official Telegram channel.
“Belarus is open to foreign visitors. But violations of immigration laws will not go unnoticed by law enforcement agencies,” Vladimir Goreglyad, a spokesperson for the ministry’s anti-corruption and organized crime department, said. “We will continue our work in this area.”
The ministry also arrested two other passport-holders from a Middle Eastern nation and a 21-year-old Belarusian woman. These individuals allegedly assisted the aforementioned duo in setting up their companies and entering the country.
“In reality, the migrants were promoting online casinos to their fellow countryfolk, as gambling operations are prohibited in their home countries,” said Goreglyad.
Belarus Police: Group Used Porn to Advertise Casinos
The group is also accused of creating and distributing pornography to help advertise their illicit gambling platform and increase streaming views for gambling events.
The ministry said the accused “set up a studio for producing erotic videos in a rented house in the Minsk region.”
The three accomplices reportedly “produced and submitted” a range of fake documents.
They then submitted these to government agencies, claiming they were employing foreign nationals as “software engineers.”
The accomplices reportedly used similar schemes to secure visas and temporary residence permits in Belarus for at least 40 foreign passport holders.
They charged between $1,500 and $2,000 per person for their services, the ministry said.
“We have launched a criminal case against the suspects,” Goreglyad said. “We believe they helped organize illegal migration. The illegal immigrants face forced deportation from Belarus.”
Goreglyad added that the ministry is searching for more suspects as part of an ongoing investigation. “We are currently identifying more members of this criminal scheme,” said the ministry official.
Minsk Gambling Crackdown
Earlier this year, police arrested a section manager in a Minsk department store on suspicion of embezzling over $73,000 from his employer.
The man allegedly under-reported cash sales, piling up excess money in the store’s tills. He then used this money to top up his own bank accounts and later to gamble on online casino platforms.
Police charged the man with “abuse of office on an especially large scale.” If found guilty, a court could sentence him to up to 12 years in jail.
This month, police arrested a Minsk man who reportedly stole his live-in girlfriend’s life savings to place casino bets.
The man reportedly lost everything he stole and ran off into the countryside, where he hid for several days. Police later arrested the suspect after finding him hidden in a farmer’s field.
