NIIGATA, June 1: Police in Japan arrested a 43-year-old Briton on Saturday for trying to sell World Cup tickets on the black market, in what was apparently the first such incident of the tournament.

A police official at World Cup Security Headquarters in Tokyo said the man, who identified himself as jewellery merchant, was caught red-handed trying to sell a ticket for the Cameroon-Ireland game to another man in the port city of Niigata.

“We believe it’s indeed the first case of ticket touting,” the official, at the Tokyo centre consolidating such information, added.

The 2002 World Cup, the first held in Asia and the first hosted by two countries, kicked off in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Friday.

The arrested man, who did not have identification on him, had sold at least one ticket to another man at 20,000 yen ($162) before he was caught near the south exit of Niigata’s Big Swan stadium, the official said.

“We don’t know how he got in,” the official added. “But we don’t expect many cases to happen so close to a stadium.”

World Cup venues within Japan have been surrounded by a double security cordon which prevents those without identification from getting close to the stadiums.

“The arrested Briton will be detained and processed according to Japanese law,” the official said, declining to elaborate on the fate of the man.—Reuters