A German national ticket reseller has been arrested in South Africa  on suspicion of attempting to sell dozens of World Cup tickets in Johannesburg. Vishnu Naidoo, a security spokesman for the 2010 World Cup, told the German Press Agency DPA  the man was arrested  after a complaint from MATCH, the Zurich-based ticketing company licensed by FIFA for the tournament, which is partly owned by FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter's nephew.

"We carried out an operation and seized tickets from the man's hotel room," Naidoo said. "He had 72 tickets (face value of 11,000 euro) that were category 1, 2, 3 and hospitality."

Witnesses identified a man fitting the suspect's description trying to sell tickets, Naidoo said, although he could not say whether any tickets had already been sold. Naidoo would not reveal the identity of the suspect, saying only that the man was in possession of a German passport. Nor could he reveal whether the suspect was still in custody.

German Embassy spokesman Martin Schaefer said the embassy had no knowledge of the arrest.

"We have no reason to deny this, but it would come as a big surprise as the South African authorities are under an obligation to alert us when a national is arrested," he told the DPA.