In a statement last night, the OCI confirmed the raids and said: “Early this morning in Rio, Brazilian police arrived at the OCI offices in the Olympic village and at OCI accommodation outside of the village”.
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The passports that have been seized so far are those of OCI executive members Dermot Henihan, Kevin Kilty and chief executive Stephen Martin.
“The OCI had an allocation of unused official tickets in their offices which had been made available for athletes’ families and friends”.
Hickey “temporarily” stood down from his official positions after the arrest so the International Olympic Committee ethics commission has not yet launched an official investigation.
After being discharged he was taken to a police station for questioning in connection with the investigation.
Former Olympic Council of Ireland chief Pat Hickey has already been detained in the inquiry and is being held in Rio’s Bangu maximum security prison awaiting a court hearing.
It has emerged that Brazilian Police are looking to seize the passports of six individuals in the OCI in total as part of their ongoing investigation including that of John Delaney. The officials “agreed”, it added.
Rio police said they were “conducting investigations since the morning, which will continue until Tuesday”.
The 71-year-old is being held in a Rio prison, pending formal charges. Hickey’s lawyer in Dublin did not respond to an email from Reuters.
Sports tourists that had attended the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may have paid up to $8000 for a ticket that should have cost $1400.00.
The operation followed the arrest of the OCI’s President Patrick Hickey on Wednesday as part of the case. He has not criticised or supported the Irish official.
The raid comes days after the arrest of senior Olympic official Pat Hickey.
Irishman Kevin Mallon, a director of THG Sports, which specialises in corporate and sports hospitality and is owned by Ipswich Town FC owner Marcus Evans, has been in custody in Brazil since August 5 over the affair.
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The judge also issued the search and seizure warrant for the tickets, phones, laptops, USB drives and computers in the rooms of the OCI at the Windsor Hotel and the Olympic Village.
