Police in major Bulgarian city of Burgas has arrested 12 football players from two local teams on suspicions of being involved in match fixing and organizing of illegal sports gambling.

This was revealed Thursday by Bulgarian Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov during a visit to another part of the country, the south-western city of Blagoevgrad.

"We are doing the so-called Christmas cleaning, so we are a bit more focused on certain operations," said Tsvetanov.

According to Bulgaria's top cop, 6 of the players are from Burgas's A-league Chernomorets football club, with the remaining 6 from the second-tier Neftohimik.

Tsvetanov, who has frequently acted as the police and prosecution's mouthpiece, said it is probable that charges will be levied right away against four of the detained players.