'Bookies earned 20mn pounds from Pak tour to Eng'

The shocking match-fixing scandal, involving the Pakistan team, turned out to be a money spinner for the bookies with reports suggesting that the fixers may have raked in at least 20 million pounds from Pakistan's matches in England this summer.

According to a report in the Daily Mirror tabloid, match-fixing crooks have so far earned at least 20 million pounds from Pakistan's tour to England, which also involved a Test series against Australia.

"And the cut to players involved in the alleged scam could be around 6 million pounds," a police source told the tabloid.

"There are huge amounts of money involved. A well-organised gang could easily have bagged tens of millions in a world-wide gambling operation," the tabloid quoted an expert as saying.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard was examining the mobile phones of several Pakistan cricketers confiscated during a raid from their hotel rooms after allegations of 'spot-fixing' in the Lord's Test had surfaced on Sunday.

Pakistan team's bus was pelted with tomatoes and booed by their own supporters as they left Lord's on Sunday, hours after four players were questioned by Scotland Yard sleuths in connection with the 'spot-fixing' allegations.

The controversy-ridden Pakistan cricket team's reputation came for a beating after a sting operation "exposed" 'spot-fixing' by pacers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir, who were allegedly paid by a bookie Mazhar Majeed to send down no balls during the lost Lord's Test against England.

Majeed was arrested on Saturday but was released on bail on Sunday night. The Pakistani cricketers implicated in the scandal, including captain Salman Butt, Asif, Aamir and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.