This week the Judiciary Police in Macau have been doing a little fishing. The law enforcement agency has nabbed 113 people accused of taking part in a loan-sharking operation that was targeting gamblers in Macau casinos. That operation reportedly made loans in excess of $8.92 million, and the law enforcement action is said to be the largest single-case arrest in the Macao Special Administrative Region since it was turned over from the Portuguese in 1999.

21 apartments were raided on Tuesday around Cotai.  Those raids resulted in the arrests, as well as the seizure of account books, loan slips, gambling chips, jewelry and around HKD$2 million (US$254,000). The operation was said to be very organized and employed techniques designed to thwart police surveillance. Law enforcement officials believe that the group could have been operating since 2011.

The raids were conducted following an investigation that began from intelligence collection in 2016. The police were able to determine that the group maintained a strict division of tasks by the members, including the identification of potential borrowers, accounting management and the issuance of credits. During the investigation, it was determined that some gamblers who did not pay their debts were placed in confinement by the group.

Among those arrested was the group’s reported leader, a Hong Kong resident. The majority of the others are believed to be residents of mainland China.