Police arrested 16 youths on charge of gambling online on various sports in the Chattogram's Riazuddin Bazar area this morning.

Three of them -- Md Iman Ali Mithu (30), Md Shipu (32), Amzad Hossain Rubel (29) -- are ringleaders of a gambling syndicate and moved nearly Tk 1 crore online per month and gave loans to the gamblers to place bets, according to police.

The other arrestees are Md Idris (40), Md Shah Alam (31), Md Osman (37), Abdul Safur alias Nayon (30), Md Rana (26), Md Biplob Chowdhury (30), Md Raihan Islam (31), Md Faruk (25), Md Belal Uddin (27), Md Sani (23), Md Raju Bonik (20), Abdul Wahed (26), and Nazrul Islam (30).

A team of Kotwali police responded to a tip and raided a restaurant in Riazudding Bazar's Pakhir Goli at the dead of the night and arrested the 16 accused while they were gambling there with their mobiles, our staff correspondent reported, quoting Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) (South) Shah Md Abdur Rauf of Chattogram Metropolitan Police.

"The accused are from different professions and every day they spend Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 for gambling on gambling website bet365. If anyone wins, they cash the money in Bangladeshi taka, converting the digital dollar," said the ADC.

Sub-inspector (SI) Sajal Das of Kotwali Police Station, who led the drive, told The Daily Star "The syndicate have been operating the online betting for a long while behind the restaurant.

"They contact other youths and their family members through IMO, WhatsApp and other communication apps while gambling," said the SI.

ADC Rauf said a case was lodged with Kotwali police station under the Digital Security Act in this connection, as they gambled through digital devices.