Tickets official arrested over illegal sales

The CEO of Match Hospitality, a subsidary company of FIFA in charge of World Cup ticket packages, Raymond Whelan sits at a police station in Rio de Janeiro after being arrested accused of leading a network that illegal sold game passes, on July 7, 2014. AFP
The CEO of Match Hospitality, a subsidary company of FIFA in charge of World Cup ticket packages, Raymond Whelan sits at a police station in Rio de Janeiro after being arrested accused of leading a network that illegal sold game passes, on July 7, 2014. AFP

Brazilian police arrested a director from the FIFA partner company in charge of World Cup ticket packages Monday, accusing him of leading a network that illegally sold game passes.

A police spokesman told AFP that Ray Whelan, director at Match Hospitality, was detained at Rio de Janeiro's luxurious Copacabana Palace Hotel, days after 11 people were rounded up in a raid to dismantle the network.

Whelan's nationality was not immediately known.

Police say the international scalping syndicate sold thousands of tickets worth millions of dollars, going back to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.