An illustration depicts online gambling. (123rf) South Korean police said Sunday they are investigating 2,319 individuals linked with illegal gambling online, identified through a seven-month crackdown launched in November.A total of 154 people have been placed under arrest in 1,746 cases, according to the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency. Police temporarily seized 107.2 billion won ($69.8 million) in illegal profits from the suspect before official indictment, which is double the amount of a similar crackdown conducted a year earlier.The NPA said the crackdown focused on chief operators of large gambling websites based in and out of Korea. Investigators have also sought to cut the technical supply line for the websites, finding that most of the illegal websites were using a platform based on the same technology.Officials plan to track down the party that designs and supplies online gambling websites to these operators.The largest website in the crackdown was based in Vietnam and dealt with over 1.3 trillion won in bets, before being caught by the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency. Police seized illegal profits of 38.7 billion won from this website alone, arresting five related individuals.Officials worked with foreign law enforcement officials to place under detention 75 suspects who fled the country, 15 of whom have been repatriated to Korea.Police said they plan to continue tracking down chief operators of gambling websites in the second half of this year.Opening or running a gambling business for profit can be punished by up to five years in prison or a 30 million won fine.Korean law also punishes gambling with up to a 10 million won fine, while habitual gambling can be punished by up to three years in jail or a 20 million won fine. Gambling deemed to be for temporary recreational purposes — conventionally cases in which a very small amount of money, food or other insignificant items are at stake — are usually not punished.