Rio police seize passports of three Irish Olympic officials

Three members of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) have had their passports seized by police in Rio as part of an investigation into illegal ticket touting.

The Irish Times reports that officers raided the officials' hotel rooms and took mobile phones, computers and tickets in the early hours of the morning.

The men, named by police sources as Kevin Kilty, Dermot Henihan and Stephen Martin, will have to remain in Rio until Tuesday for questioning.

It comes after the arrest and detention of Patrick Hickey - head of the European Olympic Committee and an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member - along with Kevin Mallon of hospitality firm THG Sports, which has also been implicated in the case.

Police are investigating an alleged scheme to pass OCI tickets to THG via the OCI's official ticket vendor Pro10, in a bid to get around Rio organisers' decision to reject THG's application to be the official vendor.

Mr Hickey, Pro10 and THG have all denied any wrongdoing.