RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian police raided Irish Olympic officials on the last day of the Rio Games on Sunday, seizing passports, computers, mobile phones and unused tickets in a rapidly expanding investigation into allegations of an illegal ticketing scam.

The raids, on hotel rooms and offices in Rio, follow last week’s arrest of Pat Hickey, head of the Olympic Council of Ireland and member of the International Olympic Committee. The 71-year-old is being held in a Rio prison, pending formal charges.

The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said police had met some of its officials during the raids and asked them to appear at a police station for questioning on Tuesday. None of the officials were arrested, the OCI added.

Those who had their passports seized on Sunday morning were OCI Executive Director Stephen Martin, Secretary-General Dermot Henihan and Treasurer Kevin Kilty, police said.

A Brazilian judge also ordered the seizure of the passport of stand-in OCI president Willie O’Brien, senior vice-president John Delaney, and an OCI personal assistant, Linda O’Reilly.

A police source had earlier said that O’Brien’s passport had been seized, but a statement from a Brazilian court later said it was being sought.

Rio civil police said in a statement they had started an operation on Sunday linked to their probe into an international ticket touting ring, but declined to provide further details.

“We are continuing the investigation into the international scheme of ticket scalping,” Rio police said. “Agents are conducting investigations since this morning which will continue until Tuesday.

“During the operation, civil police seized the passports of the three Irishmen, preventing them from leaving the country. According to the evidence gathered so far, Kevin, Dermot and Stephen were also involved in the illegal sale of tickets.”

Police allege Hickey is implicated in a scam involving Ireland’s official Games ticket reseller, Dublin-based PRO10 Sports Management, and an international sports hospitality company, THG Sports.

They accuse PRO10 of funnelling tickets to THG Sports, which sold them illegally at inflated prices. A director of THG Sports, Kevin Mallon, was arrested this month in Brazil.

PRO10 and THG have denied wrongdoing.

“Mr. Hickey has been arrested due to suppositions that are not supported by any material evidence or proof of the alleged facts presented by the police,” Hickey’s lawyer, Arthur Lavigne, said in a statement.

“His arrest has no legal support. The investigation did not bring one single slight indication that Mr. Hickey could be involved with the facts therein investigated, and his detention was required by the police authority under mere assumptions.”

Police say they seized more than 1,000 tickets from THG Sports, which is not an official ticket reseller, and a judge has ordered the arrest of four more THG executives on accusations of fraudulent ticket sales at the Olympics.

THG has said the seized tickets were being held legally on behalf of PRO10.

Police say they have also issued arrest warrants for three PRO10 executives.

Hickey is expected to appear before a judge on Tuesday, the IOC said on Sunday.

“Mr Hickey will have his first hearing by a judge next Tuesday,” Bach said Sunday on the sidelines of an IOC executive meeting in Rio at the end of the Olympic Games.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2016

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