ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Anti-Corruption Wing detained two suspects, including an umpire, for running an international cricket gambling racket.
As per details, the arrested suspects have been were identified as Zahid Ali and Mujibur Rahman with two separate cases registered against them.
The FIR registered by FIA stated that Zahid Ali is a Sindh Police official, professional cricketer, and umpire who played cricket until 2021 and also officiated matches at local level.
Zahid is accused of involvement in online cricket betting and having contacts with international women cricketers as well.
The FIR further said that the arrested individual had links with international players from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, and other African countries.
The former cricketer would introduce himself as a professional umpire and operated through a WhatsApp group named “World Cricket Law.”
Zahid is also alleged to have been involved in money laundering and sports betting across multiple countries. FIA stated that crucial data and evidence have been collected from the suspects’ mobile phones.
The other accused, Mujibur Rahman, allegedly had connections with gamblers in South Asia, including India, the UAE, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The FIR revealed that he was also in contact with the owner of a franchise during the Sri Lanka Premier League.
It was revealed during the investigation that Mujibur Rahman had received a notice from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was also involved in human trafficking for cricket betting activities.
FIA stated that both suspects were also involved in the preparation of forged educational documents, FIA added.
In a separate development, earlier, Pakistan’s famous cricketer Sohaib Maqsood claimed that he fell victim to a scam worth Rs. 14 million (1.4 crore) by a car showroom owner in Multan.
The power hitter took to X (formerly Twitter), saying that “there is guy a showroom owner in multan who has a car showroom in multan who has done Big Fraud with me regarding my car worth 1.4 carore sold my car without documents documents are with me and in return gave me another car with fake Documents and got extra 70 lacs.”
He requested the Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Government of Punjab and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to help him, stating that “please help me to sort this matter.. request our high athorties to please contact me and get all these details from me 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾we need to catchup these Frauds who play with people hard earned money🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿.”
Read more: Sohaib Maqsood Loses Over Rs 14 Million in Shocking Multan Car Scam
