Pro soccer player suspected of gambling and fixing games kept in jail until Monday

The Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court extends the remand of a professional soccer player until Monday, as police continue to probe him on suspicion of mob ties.

The athlete, who plays in Israel’s second division, was arrested at the start of the week on suspicion of gambling and game-fixing, alleged offenses police believe are linked to the activities of a northern gang.

The judge also extends a gag order barring the soccer player’s name from publication, Walla reports.

Police arrested the suspect Sunday as part of a larger investigation into a violent gang based in Migdal Ha’emek, whose members are suspected of taking orders from a mob boss currently behind bars.

According to law enforcement, the group took over gambling establishments and provided victims loans at exorbitant interest rates, then threatened them with violence when they failed to pay them back.

The gang is responsible for “setting property and businesses on fire, instilling fear and intimidation in debtors and their families and terrorizing law-abiding citizens while cynically exploiting their economic distress,” police said in a statement last week.