Police say they need hard evidence to crack down on match-fixing cartels, after coming under pressure to arrest suspected ringleaders of networks which targeted hundreds of football games in Europe and beyond

Singapore has long been considered at the heart of international football match-rigging after fixers learned their trade in the local and Malaysian league before venturing into Europe in the 1990s.

According to reports and investigators, they provide money to local operators to fix games, and then place clandestine bets on Internet gambling sites, mainly based in Asia, with potential winnings running to millions of dollars.

Singapore’s Wilson Raj Perumal (pictured) was convicted in 2011, jailed in Finland, and is now serving time in Hungary. He claims to be an ex-associate of Tan and is believed to be a key informant for the European probe. There are reports his arrest was tipped off by Tan.

The 47 years old Wilson Raj is best known for putting together a fake Togo national team in a rigged match against Bahrain.

He fled to England in 2009 after knocking down a police officer with his car.

Before that, he had been jailed in 1995 for paying a football captain $3,000 to throw a game and convicted again in 2000 for attacking Woodlands Wellington’s Ivica Raguz in an attempt to harm his side’s chances in an upcoming match.