/ 7 July 2004

Operation Dribble ‘mops up’ four more refs

Four more football referees were arrested in Gauteng on Wednesday as part of the police’s ongoing crackdown on match fixing, police spokesperson senior superintendent Selby Bokaba said.

Three were Premier Soccer League (PSL) referees and the fourth was a retired referee connected with the Vodacom league, administered by the SA Football Association (Safa).

This brings to 27 the number of referees and officials arrested in Operation Dribble, a police investigation conducted at the request of Safa, Bokaba said.

The three PLS referees will appear in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court and the fourth in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court — where the alleged crimes took place — on Thursday.

Bokaba said that further arrests were expected in the final ”mopping up” stages of the operation. – Sapa