MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Hickey was arrested at a hotel and is suspected of organizing the passing of tickets to a company that would later sell them in Ireland, a process managed through the OCI, the Globo G1 news website reported, citing Brazilian police.
THG Sports, owned by UK businessman Marcus Evans, is now under investigation as the intermediary in the speculation scheme, according to the media outlet.
"We arrived to a hotel in Barra da Tijuca, in which this company would deliver the tickets to the buyers and would take them to the Maracana [stadium]. There, the police acted," the police officer responsible for the operation said.
Police also reportedly arrested 20 ticket buyers present in the hotel, a well as a man in possession of nearly 800 illegal tickets.
The Summer Olympic Games are being held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5 until August 21.
