Ronaldinho held by Paraguay police for allegedly having fake passport

Reports in the South American media claim that Brazilian legend Ronaldinho is being held by police in Paraguay for holding fake passport.

He is held along with his brother Roberto according to the reports.

Quoting the Interior Minister of the country, Euclides Acevedo, ESPN Brazil wrote:

“[The brothers] are not being detained, they are still under judicial investigation and they have to testify. Then it will be decided whether they will be arrested or not.”

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39-year-old Ronaldinho, who played for Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona among others during his footballing days, arrived in Paraguay for a charity event on Wednesday.

He was then held after the fake documents were found in his hotel suite by officials near the capital city of Asuncion.

While the passport carries Ronaldinho’s original name, place and of birth, it allegedly labels him as a Paraguay citizen.

Ronaldinho is currently without a Brazilian passport because of an environmental fine he received in 2018, following his conviction of illegally building a fishing trap at Lake Guaiba in 2015 without proper licensing in a permanent preservation area.

That conviction saw himself and brother handed an $8.5 million fine in November 2018 and after failing to pay up, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice decided to stop Ronaldinho from being able to leave the country.

Despite being unable to leave Brazil, Ronaldinho was unveiled as one of the country’s new ambassadors for tourism in September last year.

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