Four Arrested Over Football 'conspiracy'

Four men have been arrested in connection with allegations of corruption in football, City of London police said today.

Officers said the four were being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

The suspects - aged 69, 55, 48 and 30 - were taken into custody as police raided eight addresses.

A spokeswoman for the force said three searches were continuing while five others had been completed.

The force refused to confirm that the raids were part of its economic crime unit's investigation into alleged bungs in the game. A spokeswoman said, however, they formed "part of an ongoing investigation into football corruption".

Last year, the Football Association brought in the former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens to carry out a separate inquiry into several hundred player transfers.

His findings, which looked at 362 transfers between January 1 2004 and January 31 2006, found that 39 deals warranted further investigation.

The deals involved eight of the 29 clubs that had been in the Premiership during the span of his inquiries.

The City of London police spokeswoman said she could not give any more details about the arrested men or the locations of the searches.