South African police arrested four more football referees in connection with match-fixing in the sport on Thursday.

Police have so far arrested 27 persons in their drive to curb the match-fixing menace while more arrests are on the cards.

"With the latest arrests, the number of referees and soccer officials arrested has reached 27 in our 'Operation Dribble' to crack down on match-fixing in the sport," said National police spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

"We are still looking for another six people and are confident of arresting them within the next 24 hours. There is one person who is on the run but we will get him because he cannot run forever," he added.

Bokaba said the referees were arrested in Johannesburg and taken to the provinces of Free State and Limpopo to face charges".

South African police began their arrests about three weeks ago after they started their investigations early in March when asked by the South African Football Association (SAFA) to look into the allegations that referees and club officials had been involved in match-fixing.

The alleged match-fixing has mainly affected the first and second division professional leagues.

The police are taking a hard line against the match-fixing claims because they want to avoid negative publicity ahead of the 2010 World Cup, which was recently awarded to the country.