In a crackdown on football match-fixing, Singaporean authorities have arrested more than a dozen people they suspect of being members of an organized crime syndicate.

The arrests come amid a global effort to uncover corruption in the sport, which European police officials believe has reached some of the world's most high-profile games including World Cup qualifiers and UEFA Champions League matches.

Among the 14 people detained in Singapore during the 12-hour operation on Tuesday is the crime group's suspected leader, the Singapore Police Force and the city-state's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a joint statement late Wednesday.

The statement didn't disclose the names of the arrested suspects, and authorities wouldn't say whether Tan Seet Eng, a Singaporean man also known as Dan Tan, was among them.

Singapore police said earlier this year that Tan, considered to be a key suspect in the global match-fixing scheme, was helping them with their investigations.

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, said in February that it was investigating hundreds of games on suspicion of match-fixing. It pointed to "a suspected organized crime syndicate" in Singapore as masterminding the alleged scams and working with criminal networks in Europe.
The people arrested -- 12 men and two women -- are all Singaporean and are aged between 38 and 60, Singapore authorities said.

European police officials in February described their investigation as "the biggest-ever investigation into suspected match-fixing in Europe."

A total of 380 games in Europe -- including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers -- were deemed suspicious, with 425 match and club officials and criminals involved from 15 different countries.

(Source: BBC)