Nine arrested in Lottery charities fraud probe

Nine men have been arrested after police smashed an alleged plot to cheat the National Lottery and children's charities out of millions of pounds.

The bank accounts of 30 bogus charities were frozen after the gang is alleged to have made hundreds of false applications to the Big Lottery Fund, which is responsible for handing out cash for good causes.

It is feared the criminal network stole £1million of Lottery cash before the scam was uncovered. Detectives believe other leading charities such as Comic Relief, Barnardo's and Children in Need have also been defrauded by the criminal network. The West African gang is said to have managed to evade suspicion for several months by restricting their applications for funds to under £5,000.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman confirmed it had frozen about 30 bank accounts "in order to protect charitable funds".

More accounts are expected to be frozen as the investigations continue.