This past Wednesday, 13 people were arrested by the Judiciary Police in Macau while visiting casinos in the Cotai area. The arrests come as a result of an ongoing anti-crime operation led by the police that targets illicit money exchange services at the casinos.

The 13 individuals are all from China’s mainland and were taken in for further questioning. The arrests follow a similar action from the middle of last month at casinos in Cotai where eight individuals from the mainland were detained over similar offenses.

Judiciary Police Director Sit Chong Meng told the media after the June arrests that his officers have been actively pursuing illicit money exchanges in casinos since the end of last year.  He indicated that possibly hundreds of mainlanders suspected of participating in the illegal activity had been returned to mainland China and were banned from returning to Macau for three years.

Wong Sio Chak, the secretary for security in Macau, announced in May that the city’s police force would be increasing efforts this year to eliminate the illegal money exchanges in and near Macau’s casinos. In the first quarter of this year, 12 different operations had already been conducted that targeted the activity. According to Wong, the police have effectively “cracked down” on gaming-related crimes since the beginning of the year.