Interpol’s chief says Singaporean police notified authorities in Italy of suspected football match-fixer Admir Suljic’s flight to Milan ahead of his arrest on Thursday.
Ronald Noble, Interpol secretary general, said the man is wanted in Italy because he is allegedly working for Singaporean businessman Tan Seet Eng - known as Dan Tan - for whom Italian authorities have issued an arrest warrant.
Noble did not identify Suljic while speaking at a match-fixing conference in Malaysia earlier, saying only that Singaporean police passed the travel information to Interpol to relay to Italian police for possible action.
Italian police later said Suljic of Slovenia was taken into custody after landing at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a flight from Singapore.
Suljic is wanted by judicial authorities in the city of Cremona investigating a massive match-fixing case that has already brought the arrests of more than 50 people, with more than 150 placed under investigation.
Noble said the arrest is “important because the world believes that law enforcement can’t do anything to take down this criminal organisation, the world believes that [Tan] and his associates can’t be touched, that they are above the law,” Noble said.
Tan is accused of heading a crime syndicate that made millions of dollars betting on rigged Italian football matches. Italian officials have been unable to take Tan into custody as the arrest warrant cannot be served while he’s in Asia.