Intro:

Brazilian police treating Ray Whelan as a fugitive.

One man suspected of taking part in a football World Cup ticket scalping scheme visited a police station in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday (10th July).

Script:

Brazilian police on Thursday said they consider, Ray Whelan, the director of a World Cup hospitality company implicated in a ticket scalping scheme as a fugitive.

Investigator Fabio Barucke said that Whelan left the lavish Copacabana Palace through a service entrance about an hour before police arrived to re-arrest him.

Police accuse Whelan of being the main source of World Cup tickets that were sold to an Algerian national they label as the biggest scalper of Cup tickets.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Fabio Barucke, police investigator:

"We came to arrest him (Ray Whelan, director of a World Cup hospitality company) and we saw security camera footage. He (Whelan) left an hour ago and he is considered a fugitive at the moment. His arrest warrant has been issued, he is considered a fugitive."

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Fabio Barucke, police investigator:

"It's not common to leave through the employee entrance, you would usually get out from the front door. An hour ago, TV was on in his (Whelan's) room, his slippers were there, it demonstrates he left very quickly."

The Match group has acknowledged that Whelan and Lamine Fofana discussed cash sales of final tickets phone calls wiretapped by police - but say it included VIP services, and that was the reason for the high price.

Thursday also saw the visit of Marcelo Pavao to a police station in Rio de Janeiro, although it remains unclear whether Pavao was involved in the illegal resale of tickets.

Pavao's lawyer, Rafael Kullmann, said he hadn't been able to speak to his client.