Nasir Jamshed arrested in Britain in PSL spot-fixing case

Pakistan's Nasir Jamshed and one unidentified man have reportedly been arrested in the UK as part of an ongoing investigation into corruption in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) released a statement on 14 February confirming the arrests of two men. Although Jamshed was not named in the statement, it is widely believed from sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board and International Cricket Council as per Geo.TV that the former opener was one of the men.

"Two men in their thirties have been arrested by National Crime Agency officers in connection with bribery offences as part of an ongoing investigation into international cricket match spot-fixing," theNCA statement said.

"The men were arrested on Monday 13 February and have been released on bail until April 2017 pending further enquiries.

"As part of the ongoing investigation we are working closely with the Pakistan Cricket Board and International Cricket Council's anti-corruption units. The Pakistan Cricket Board has launched its own investigation which has resulted in the suspension of three players."

The 27-year-old – now released on bail – was arrested the same day he was provisionally suspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board in all formats of the game.

Jamshed is now the third player to face a suspension in relation to the corruption case following thesuspensions of Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan.

Other players who have been questioned in connection with the investigation are Mohammad Irfan, Zulfiqar Babar and Shahzaib Hasan.

However, unlike Latif and Khan, they have not been suspended and are free to continue playing in the tournament as PSL chairman Najam Sethi revealed on his official Twitter account.

"PCB ACU has questioned M Irfan. Inquiry will continue,"Sethi tweeted on 11 February. "He does not face any immediate suspension. PCB ACU has questioned S Hassan and Z Babar. They will continue to play @thePSLt20. PCB ACU will remain vigilant and continue to protect @thePSLt20 from the menace of corruption."

Sethi said the PCB investigation began before the second season of the PSL commenced, as he knew the league's popularity would attract bookies.

"You will know in 3-4 days what the plans were, what they were going to do, we have these players' phones in which there is more information,"he added. "Who they were in touch with, what they talked about, their text messages, WhatsApp messages.

"We had an idea this was happening. We had also infiltrated into Pakistani bookies and we had some information from there as well before we got here. The league was huge last year and we knew it would attract bookies.

"We were waiting for it and we knew some players outside the PSL would be involved in it. We suspended Nasir Jamshed as well, about whom we know what role he played. We nipped it in the bud," he said.