Israeli police have detained 17 people linked to a second-division Israeli football club in connection with a major investigation into alleged match-fixing.
The suspects are all understood to be involved in the operations of a club competing in the National League.
They were arrested at their homes in a series of dawn raids on Monday morning.
Police confirmed that the group, which includes current players and senior administrative staff, are suspected of involvement in a number of offences over the course of around three years.
Lawyers representing some of the suspects said that their clients “do not understand at all why they were arrested” and claimed that “certain entities are trying to prevent the club’s promotion to the Premier League”.
But police allege that several of the suspects had established ties to a known criminal organisation, which used the club as a “platform for criminal activities”.
This included bets, to the tune of millions of shekels, placed in Israel and abroad on matches the outcomes of which were pre-determined.
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