VietNamNet Bridge – The police on Monday arrested five people in Dong Nai province on suspicion of organizing football betting, related to the suspected match fixing case between Dong Nai FC and Quang Ninh Coal FC on July 20.

Three of the six players of Dong Nai FC who are under investigation for match fixing.

On the morning of July 21, at the office of the Dong Nai Department of Criminal Police, the Department of the Southern Police arrested five suspects and a cell of suspects involved in arrangements in fixing the score between the Dong Nai in the V-League round 21 Eximbank 2014 on July 20.

The five suspects arrested for investigation of gambling and gambling organization were Do Hoang Ha, 27, a civil engineer, Tran Van Ba, 31, a wood worker, Nguyen Duc Thuan, Dao Xuan Dung and a man named Hai.

Initially, the suspects confessed to fix the results of a game between Quang Ninh Coal and Dong Nai, and the betting amount was up to VND400 million ($20,000).

The suspects were moved to HCM City this morning for further investigation.

Earlier, after the match between Quang Ninh Coal and Dong Nai ended, at the 5-3 score on July 20, six players of Dong Nai FC were immediately questioned by police at their hotel. Of the six players - Niem Tien, The Son, Long Giang, Kien Trung, Duc Thien and Huu Phat – four played in the game and two were reserve players.

The six players have been detained for investigation.

Chief of the Police Department on Investigation of Social Order Crime (C45), Major-General Ho Sy Tien, said the police had been watching the six players of Dong Nai FC for a long time and they had fixed the results of many other games.

Major General Tien said that match fixing was an especially serious problem of Vietnam football and it must end.

According to some sources, the players confessed to earn tens of thousands of USD for fixing the score of the Dong Nai-Quang Ninh Coal match.

Chairman Le Hung Dung of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said that after a group of players of Ninh Binh FC was detected involving in match-fixing at the AFC Cup, the VFF had cooperated closely with the police to investigate teams in the V-League with determination to sweep out match fixing and betting.

The VFF presidents reaffirmed their determination to take strong action to keep Vietnam football clean.

S. Tung