15 Arrested as Spanish Police Move in on Tennis Match-Fixing Ring

Corruption is Everywhere - even in European tennis

As many as 28 professional tennis players are being investigated for possible match-fixing offenses, with one player thought to be a Grand Slam star.

Spanish police are leading an investigation into match-fixing in tennis, with 83 people suspected of being involved in the ring.

That number includes 28 professional tennis players, including one who played in last year's US Open in New York.

No names were released by the authorities, who uncovered an Armenian betting ring which they believe bribed athletes to fix matches for gambling purposes after an investigation was launched in 2017 following concerns about irregular activities in tournaments.

Spanish police conducted 11 raids on houses as part of the operation, leading to 15 arrests, including a number of players.

A total of €167,000 ($192,000) in cash was seized during the raids, along with credit cards, luxury vehicles and a shotgun. Bank accounts have also been frozen.

Europol, the European Union law enforcement agency, played a supporting role in the operation and said that at least 97 matches from "Futures" and "Challenger" tournaments were fixed.

A statement from Europol said: "A criminal group of Armenian individuals used a professional tennis player, who acted as the link between the gang and the rest of the criminal group.

"Once they bribed the players, the Armenian network members attended the matches to ensure that the tennis players complied with what was previously agreed, and gave orders to other members of the group to go ahead with the bets placed at national and international level."

Algerian Underworld Helping Traffickers Smuggle Potential Terrorists into UK

© Francois Lenoir / Reuters

People traffickers were able to smuggle hundreds of illegal immigrants into Britain, including potential terrorists, with the help of counterfeit passports, Greek investigators have revealed.

Police forces in Britain and Greece seized 33 suspected members of a gang charging Iranian citizens up to £12,500 (US$15,800) for high-quality fake passports. An estimated 1,100 people used the service.

The ring, which included 24 people based in Athens and nine in Glasgow, Manchester and Northampton, was eventually smashed by the British National Crime Agency and the Greek Organized Crime Unit, with the help of Europol.

Migrants were targeted for their relative wealth and moved from Iran to Europe through Turkey and Greece.

A total of four passport forgery factories were found and dismantled in Greece – machines, large wads of cash and several fake documents were taken.

According to the Times, one of the men arrested in Greece in connection with the gang was an Algerian suspected of belonging to a terrorist group.

“There’s no concrete evidence yet but the working assumption is that an Algerian terrorist in Spain was operating with an Algerian terrorist in Greece,” a senior Greek investigator told the newspaper. He added that there were “credible suspicions” the group helped doctor documents for terrorists coming to Europe.

Another 12 suspects are still at large but are being hunted by the police. The men now awaiting charges have been described by the National Crime Agency’s Chris Hogben as “key members of a criminal network responsible for smuggling hundreds of Iranian migrants to the UK.”

Over 60,000 refugees are still stuck in Greece after countries such as Hungary closed down their borders in February.

In November, another gang was busted in Spain after smuggling 6,000 Ukrainians into Britain with false IDs.

Germany: Criminal Gangs Get Their New Recruits From Refugees

Source: Reuters

Criminal gangs in Germany benefit from the influx of refugees in the country by recruiting among them the "younger men and the strongest," reports the German newspaper Die Welt.

To bolster their ranks, criminal gangs in Berlin recruited from "young and strong" refugee men  that can participate in the "dirty jobs" such as burglaries, drug trafficking and attacks, the newspaper reported German Die Welt .

Refugees are easy recruits for gang recruiters arriving in the reception centers driving in luxury cars, attracting asylum seekers who have fled their country devastated by war.

Refugees are also highly coveted by gangs insofar as their identity is still unknown local authorities.

Criminal gangs, led mainly by the Arab community in the German capital, the newspaper Die Welt , would control almost all organized crime in Berlin. The leaders of the gang from Lebanon, settled in Germany in the 1970s.  

Video - commentary in German 1:20

The news comes three months after Europol has warned that human traffickers were using the refugee crisis to recruit slaves, including for sexual purposes.