A Slovenian national, wanted by Germany under suspicion of being linked with Europe’s worst-ever soccer betting scandal, is under arrest in Croatia, the HINA news agency reported on Tuesday.
Dragan Mihelic is suspected by German prosecution authorities of fraud and money laundering in the scandal in which 200 games are suspected of having been rigged in nine countries, the state-run agency said.
The 38-year-old was picked up on Monday at the Macelj border crossing as he was entering Croatia upon a German arrest warrant. After appearing before an investigative judge he was placed in a Zagreb prison.
Germany has a 40-day deadline to file an extradition request, a court official said.
A spokesman for the national Bureau for the Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption told reporters on Tuesday they had asked the police to check information regarding allegations on fixed soccer matches.
However, spokesman Vuk Djuricic declined to provide any details on the clubs allegedly involved in the scandal.
Local media reported that 14 matches in Croatia’s first division were suspected of being fixed.
The affair broke last week when German prosecutors announced that a 200-strong band operating across Europe was suspected of fixing matches in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.
By bribing players, coaches, referees and officials to influence matches, the gang is thought to have earned as much as 10 million euros (US$15 million) in huge bets with bookmakers in Europe and Asia, primarily in China.
The games include three Champions League ties, 12 matches in the Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup, and one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship. All took place this season.
Raids were carried out in Austria, Britain, Germany and Switzerland. So far, 15 people have been detained in Germany and two in Switzerland, while more than 1 million euros in cash and property have been seized. Two of those arrested included two Croatian brothers living in Berlin, Ante and Milan Sapina, who were at the center of a match-fixing scandal that rocked Germany in 2004, press reports said.
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