Düsseldorf/Ratingen (dpa/lnw) - In the course of several searches throughout North Rhine-Westphalia on suspicion of an illegal lottery event, the police raided a hall in Ratingen (Mettmann district) on Saturday night. According to the police and the public prosecutor's office, an illegal bingo game with around 130 participants took place there.
In addition to the bingo participants, police managed to arrest five men aged 25, 28, 30, 35 and 36 in the hall accused of organizing the event. A low five-figure sum of cash and valuable jewelry was also confiscated.
The police presence was therefore part of a nationwide search series involving over 200 emergency services. A total of seven properties in Ratingen, Düsseldorf, Essen and Wesel were searched - including apartments and a business premises. Cash sums in the higher five-digit range were confiscated in these premises. In addition to the officials of the operational group, there were also emergency services from the evidence preservation and arrest unit, a banknote detection dog, a financial investigator and investigators from the criminal police on site.
In the run-up to the search measures, police investigators had received information about the suspicion of illegally holding a lottery in Ratingen. The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf then initiated a corresponding investigation and obtained the search warrants.
