Football star Ronaldinho arrested for alleged passport fraud

Brazilian football great Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto Assis have been arrested in Paraguayan capital Asuncion for allegedly entering the country with false passports.

Ronaldinho, 39, and Roberto de Assis, 49, were detained after police raided their presidential suite at the Resort Yacht and Golf Club, around 15km south of Asuncion, late on Wednesday.

“Mr Ronaldinho has a false passport. That is a crime and that’s why his arrest has been ordered,” Paraguay’s interior minister Euclides Acevedo told local radio station AM 1080. “I respect his sports popularity but the law needs to be respected no matter who you are.”

Acevedo said that an investigation was “ongoing”, adding that more information would be shared with the public at a press conference on Thursday morning, local time.

Paraguayan and Brazilian media reported that Ronaldinho and Assis, who is the former Barcelona playmaker’s agent, remained at the hotel under police watch after their arrest.