3 ARRESTS MADE IN PAKISTAN CRICKET SCANDAL
Baku, September 1 (AZERTAC). Three people were arrested by British customs officials in connection with a match-fixing investigation into Pakistan`s cricket team as three of its top players were called to London for questioning over the scandal.
Authorities arrested two men and a woman, all from London, as part of a probe into money laundering and are now free on bail, according to British officials.
The implicated Pakistani players had been practicing in southwest England amid a fury of controversy over the betting allegations. But the team`s manager, Yawar Saeed, said captain Salman Butt and star bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will take a break Wednesday to be questioned by cricket officials and Pakistan`s ambassador to Britain.
The British newspaper News of the World says it paid a cricket agent nearly $230,000 to know when the bowlers would make illegal throws during a game against England.
The scandal is unprecedented in England and has shocked cricket fans there, said Scyld Berry, who covers cricket for London`s Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
"The situation is more serious than it has ever been for cricket in England because there have been many episodes of match-fixing and spot-fixing occurring in Asia, but it`s never really affected the English or British follower before," said Berry.
On a videotape of the undercover sting organized by the News of the World, the agent said he worked for a so-called "Indian party" that pays him for information. Scotland Yard investigators are looking into the identity of that person.
India`s role in illegal betting came further into focus Tuesday as two Australian Cricket stars said an Indian illegal bookmaker targeted them during last year`s tour of England.
Shane Watson told a press conference in Sydney that he immediately informed team managers after a man approached him at his hotel.
"And I actually didn`t think too much more of it until I found out a bit more information that he was actually one of the illegal bookmakers that was trying to sort of get involved," Watson said.
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