Society

Soccer betting debts cause police officer's suicide

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-24 22:58

NANNING - A Chinese police officer has killed himself after running up debts in online gambling on the football World Cup games, police said Thursday.

Cai Jiabing, 31, was found dead Tuesday in his office chair in Hechi city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said a spokesman for the city's public security bureau.

Related readings:  Former police officer stands trial for graft  Officer's mobile jammed with public tip-offs  Police officer detained in labor camp death probe  Top officer walks small beat, catches scores of criminals

Cai, a captain of a narcotics squad, had a head wound, and a gun and a cartridge case were on the floor by his feet.

Police did not reveal any evidence linking Cai's death to online football gambling, nor the amount of his debts.

He was cremated Wednesday.

The case is under further investigation.

Online football gambling is illegal in China. The Ministry of Public Security this week vowed to crackdown on online gambling organizations as a number of football gambling websites were discovered after the start of the World Cup in South Africa.

Figures from the ministry show Chinese police had shut down 1,461 gambling websites in less than one week after the start of the 2010 World Cup.