Chinese police have broken up an illegal online gambling ring with assistance from their counterparts in the Philippines.

On Tuesday, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that police in Jiangsu province had staged raids in five cities in late April after first becoming aware of the gambling ring’s existence in early 2015. It’s unclear why reports of these raids have only now become public knowledge.

Police said the ring operated six gambling websites that took in RMB 320m (US $48m) from punters since 2015. The ring based its servers in Thailand and Hong Kong, its service and financial staff in the Philippines, while local agents on the ground in China were responsible for reeling in betting clients.

A total of 36 individuals have been arrested, including 21 that were detained in the Philippines and subsequently deported to China for prosecution. Eleven “major” suspects are due to be prosecuted by the Yangzhou City People’s Procuratorate.