HANOI, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly 30 people working in Vietnam's state agencies and enterprises have gambled via a transnational lottery and soccer-betting ring managed by a local police officer, local media reported Wednesday.

    The detained police officer, driver of the head of the Hanoi Traffic Police Bureau, has recently confessed many state cadres made bets on foreign soccer matches via the ring, the newspaper Youth quoted local investigators as reporting.

    Next week, some bettors will be summoned for investigation.

    After arresting Hung, who ran over 40 branches for illegal lottery and soccer betting in major localities in Vietnam, and had contacts with foreign bookmakers, in mid-December 2005, local police detained two of his customers, general director of the Project Management Unit No. 18 under the country's Transport Ministry, and the unit's office vice-manager, and summoned a vice-general director of the Vietnam Expressway Corporation under the Transport Ministry.

    According to files in Hung's computer decoded by the police, the general director named Bui Tien Dung made total bets of nearly 2.4 million U.S. dollars within two months.

    Newspaper Pioneer on Wednesday said Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has tasked investigation agencies to clarify the source of money bet by the state cadres. The newspaper quoted a source as saying that Hung is not the ring's leader, but a notorious bookmaker from Hanoi capital city.

    The bookmaker, an ordinary citizen, not state employee, has made direct transactions with foreign bookies. The bookmaker has received millions of dollars in a single bet, according to the source.

    Like other kinds of gambling, except for casinos designated for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, soccer betting is illegal in Vietnam. Dozens of local bettors and bookmakers have been detained during major national and international soccer tournaments. Enditem