THREE PEOPLE WERE arrested on Sunday following fresh allegations of match-fixing at English non-league games, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
The Sun on Sunday tabloid reported boasts by an ex-player that he arranged for a Championship player to be paid £30,000 ($49,000, 36,000 euros) to get himself a yellow card.
Gamblers can make huge sums by betting on incidents such as yellow or red cards, penalties, late goals and corner kicks.
The NCA, which deals with serious and organised crime in Britain, said it had been passed information about the alleged match-fixing from the newspaper.
“An active NCA investigation is now underway and we are working closely with the Football Association and the Gambling Commission,” it said in a statement.
“Three people are in custody and are being questioned by NCA officers. We cannot comment further at this stage.”
A spokeswoman told AFP the arrests had been made on Sunday but declined to identify the suspects, nor could she elaborate on what offences they were accused of.
Four people were charged this week in a separate NCA investigation into an alleged Singapore-based betting syndicate involving lower-league English football.
Speaking about Sunday’s allegations, Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey said any claims of criminal activity were treated “with the utmost seriousness”.“We would encourage anyone with any evidence to report it to the police. We will be giving our full assistance to the police during their investigation,” he said.
The Football Association said in a statement that it was also “working closely” with the NCA in its latest investigation.
