Police Uncover Organizers of Online Gambling

The police conducted a large-scale operation against a group that organized online gambling in the Azerbaijani segment of social media. Specifically, officers from the Cybercrime Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs discovered pages on Instagram where Azerbaijani citizens were being lured into participating in online gambling.

According to the Ministry's statement, the suspected leader of the group, Elmidar Ismailzade, born in 1999, involved Eldaniz Ismailov, born in 1974, and 30 other individuals in organizing online gambling. To remain anonymous, the group members opened multiple social media pages using mobile numbers from telecommunications operators in Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye, and other countries.

The main members of the network established a virtual management system and operated from various rented apartments, which they changed periodically. Victims of the gambling operations transferred money to the bank cards of the group members. During the operation, 1,157 bank cards used for money transfers were identified.

During searches of secret offices, apartments, and storage locations used by the group members, numerous electronic devices, bank cards, 110 foreign mobile SIM cards, and 2,000,000 manats (approximately $1.2 million) were seized as material evidence.

Additionally, it was determined that over 20,000,000 manats (around $12 million) had been deposited into bank accounts used by the network under the names of third parties.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Articles 244-1.3.1 (Organization or maintenance of gambling establishments) and 193-1.3.1 and 193-1.3.2 (Legalization of monetary funds or other property obtained through criminal means, as part of an organized group and in particularly large amounts). The investigation is ongoing, and preventive measures in the form of detention have been imposed on nine individuals who led the network.