ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Italian police arrested a fugitive Slovenian associate of alleged soccer match-fixing kingpin Tan Seet Eng on Thursday after he flew in from Singapore to hand himself over, they said in a statement.
The man, identified as 31-year-old Admir Suljic, arrived at Milan's Malpensa airport in the early hours to find police waiting for him after a tip-off by Singapore authorities.
Police said in the statement that Suljic, who is accused of "criminal association aimed at sporting fraud", had bought a one-way ticket with the intention of surrendering to the authorities.
He had been on the run since December 2011 and is considered a "key element" in Italy's 'Last Bet' probe into match-fixing between 2009 and 2011. Police said Suljic would be taken to a prison in the city of Cremona.
"His direct involvement in the international criminal group, made of Singapore nationals and people from the Balkans, has emerged from the investigation," the police statement said.
Italian prosecutors have accused Tan, also known as Dan Tan, of heading an organization to fix soccer matches worldwide and Italian police have issued an arrest warrant for him.
A joint inquiry by Europol and national prosecutors identified about 680 suspicious matches including qualifying games for the World Cup, the European Championships and the Champions League.