ISLAMABAD: The capital police late Friday night busted a gang of international bookies during the second one day international (ODI) cricket match between Pakistan and Sir Lanka, police said on Saturday.

They said that seven bookies had been arrested, but their ring leader managed to escape, adding that the gang was well connected with various other countries.

The police said the arrests were made while responding to a tip off that a gang of bookies was operating from Mustafa Tower in F-10.

They maintained that 25 telephone sets of different land line numbers, two TVs and a laptop were recovered from the site.

A software was also installed on the laptop through which the bookies offered and received bets in separate categories. These categories included bets on each ball, individual player’s performance, each over and even on the entire match.

The police said that people had bet millions of rupees on the match and details of all these persons were recovered as their data was stored in the software and the printed material found from the apartment.

In addition, a recording of telephonic conversations between the bookies were also recovered in which bets had been placed on the first and second ODI matches between the two countries.

A few foreign groups of bookies, including those based in Melbourne Australia and Dubai, were also found betting on the game. Evidence in this regard was also included in the recovery, the police added.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were betting on cricket matches under their leader Khurram Shahzad, a native of Rawalpindi. They had recently moved to Mustafa Towers.

They also confessed to placing bets on the first ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the police have found evidence in this regard as well. In addition, the police said the accused had confessed that they had been betting on the recent series between Pakistan and South Africa, including the series in UAE.

This is not the first time such gangs have been apprehended from the capital.

On July 12, 2012, the Industrial Area police arrested a bookie and his three subordinates from I-10/4 who had links with various countries.

During investigation, they revealed that bookies had divided Pakistan into three zones.

The northern region was supervised from Islamabad, while the remaining two zones were supervised from Lahore and Karachi. The three cities were also linked with major gambling dens in other countries, including India, Sri Lanka and UAE.