Lahore: Fined in a match-fixing inquiry 11 years ago, former Pakistan Test cricketer and umpire Akram Raza has been arrested along with six alleged bookies, who were taking bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League.
"We arrested seven men from a plaza in Liberty area in Gulberg today and one of them has been identified as Akram Raza a former Pakistan player," a senior police officer at the Gulberg police station said.
He said the police got a tip off that a gang of known bookmakers was taking bets on the IPL in the liberty area and conducted the raid.
"We recovered cash, mobile phones and many telephone numbers in India," he said.
He said the arrested persons, including Raza, have been lodged at the Gulberg station but not charged as yet.
"We are investigating to find out their modus operandi and connections," he said.
The 46-year-old, who played nine Tests and 49 one-day internationals for Pakistan, is presently on the Pakistan Cricket Board first class umpires panel and has supervised top matches.
He was also named in the match-fixing scandal that first broke out in Pakistan cricket 16 years back and was later fined by the Justice Malik Qayyum inquiry commission into match-fixing in 2000.
Raza is a close friend of former Pakistan captain Salim Malik who was banned for life by the same commission for match-fixing.