Dutch tax officials have arrested five men suspected of running an illegal large-scale football betting and money laundering racket, prosecutors said on Tuesday. A six-country investigation led to the arrest of the men, two from The Hague aged 58 and 34, and a third aged 40, who lives in Cyprus but was temporarily in The Hague, the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
Two other suspects aged, 40 and 49 were arrested elsewhere in the Netherlands, the statement added.
"Three men are suspected of being part of a criminal group in the Netherlands that runs a professional large-scale illegal gambling racket," it said. A fourth man was suspected of forgery while a fifth of money laundering, prosecutors said.
Dutch authorities launched the probe after a tip-off from Germany that one of the suspects, the 40-year-old man from Cyprus, was allegedly involved in matchfixing in 2008-09.