At least a half dozen police officers went to the luxury hotel in the upscale Barra da Tijuca neighborhood in the early morning hours to arrest the 71-year-old Hickey, who fell ill and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Hickey is also president of the OCI, head of the European Olympic Committees and vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees. PRO10 and THG have denied wrongdoing.
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THG does not have a permit to sell Irish Olympic tickets but an official company, Pro 10, said Mallon was working for them and did have a letter of accreditation.
Mr Adams said the International Olympic Committee would fully co-operate with any police investigation.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would co-operate with any police investigation.
Earlier: Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) President Pat Hickey has been arrested this morning, as part of the ongoing investigation into the irregular sale of tickets, writes Daniel McConnell.
An online video, credited to ESPN, showed Hickey being apprehended and led away in a white bathrobe.
But Mr Ross later said he was stunned by Hickey’s refusal to answer questions because it could prejudice the case of Mallon, the Irishman still in custody accused of possessing the tickets. Mário Andrada, communications executive director of the International Olympic Committee, said the organisation has been working with police to counteract ticket touts.
Hickey was a member of the IOC’s coordination commission for the Rio Games, the body in charge of overseeing preparations for the first Olympics held in South America.
Hickey, a white-haired sports administrator, is a former judoka and is honorary life president of the Irish Judo Federation.
“We don’t know what the allegations or charges are yet”, he said. “We have full confidence in the system”.
The tickets are believed to have been allocated to OCI and were alleged to have been put up for sale at high fees as part of a hospitality package.
“All tickets sold by PRO10 as the Irish ATR for the Rio 2016 Olympics were sold fully in line with the ATR guidelines”.
Ticket touting is illegal in Brazil and police and prosecutors have stepped up their vigilance of the practice since the country has hosted the globe’s two biggest sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and now the Olympics.
On Monday Brazilian authorities issued arrest warrants for four people connected to THG, including Marcus Evans, the British multi-millionaire who owns THG Sports’ parent company and Ipswich Town Football Club.
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If officials being arrested on ticket-scalping charges at an worldwide sports event in Brazil sounds familiar that’s because it happened at the 2014 World Cup.
