MADRID, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Civil Guard has broken up a huge network allegedly involved in fixing the results of professional matches in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures and Challenger categories, a Guardia Civil statement said on Thursday.
The network is understood to have been active since February 2017, generating profits running into millions of euros through online betting.
The Civil Guard said the organization involved 83 people and that "of those 83, 28 are professional tennis players who have either been detained or investigated -- one of whom took part in the last US Open."
"Fifteen people have been arrested, among them the heads of the organization, and another 68 are under investigation," confirmed the Civil Guard, explaining that the players received bribes in order to fix the results of matches.
"A group of Armenian individuals used a professional player who served as the link between them and the other members of the network," the statement said.
"Once the bribe had been paid, the Armenians headed for the match venues to use their overwhelming muscle to make sure that the player kept their end of the deal. They then gave the order for bets to be laid both nationally and internationally," continued the statement.
The Civil Guard operation began "after a denouncement by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), an international anti-corruption organization which is responsible for protecting integrity in the world of tennis."
"The agents then centered their investigation on a Spanish tennis player and were able to unravel the complex network surrounding them."
The operation involved searches at 11 different addresses in 9 different provinces of Spain, leading to the "seizure of 167,000 euros (192,000 U.S. dollars) in cash as well as a handgun, stolen identity documents, jewelry, more than 50 electronic devices and five high-end vehicles."
A total of 42 banks accounts have also been frozen during the operation.
