SINGAPORE // The Singapore authorities have arrested 14 people on suspicion of being involved in a global football match-fixing network, Interpol has confirmed.
The 12 men and two women were arrested following raids across Singapore in the early hours of Tuesday, with one of the people taken into custody the suspected leader.
The arrests were part of a joint operation led by Singapore Police and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organisation which is based in Lyon, France, released a statement on its website.
“Singaporean authorities have taken an important step in cracking down on an international match-fixing syndicate by arresting the main suspects in the case, including the suspected mastermind; no person should doubt Singapore’s commitment to fighting match-fixing,” the Interpol statement said.
Five of the people arrested, including the suspected leader, are currently being detained pending further investigation, with the other nine to be released on police bail.
The Singapore authorities did not formally name any of the people taken into custody.
A high-level police official told The Associated Press that those arrested include Tan Seet Eng, widely known as Dan Tan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the detention publicly. Prosecutors in Italy have accused Dan Tan of coordinating a global crime syndicate that made millions of dollars betting on rigged Italian matches and other games across the world.
The police official added that Dan Tan’s arrest was the result of a months-long investigation in Singapore by authorities there and was not in response to arrest requests from foreign law enforcement bodies.
That could be significant because it opens the possibility that Tan could be brought to justice in Singapore, thus avoiding potential extradition problems. Singapore, for instance, has no extradition treaty with Italy, where prosecutors allege that Tan was deeply involved with match-fixing there.