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Police link Ronaldinho, Anderson to drug suspect

Brazil’s Ronaldinho, right, watches as Anderson, center, appeals to the referee during their Beijing Olympic Games men’s soccer semi-final match against Argentina on Aug. 19. PHOTO: AFP

Brazilian soccer stars Ronaldinho and Anderson were caught on a police wiretap talking about attending a party with a fugitive drug dealer who was found hiding in Anderson’s apartment, police said on Tuesday.

Suspected trafficker Richard Alex da Silva Martins, known as “Gigi,” was captured in Anderson’s apartment in Porto Alegre, also Ronaldinho’s hometown in southern Brazil, amid a mass police raid late on Monday.

Officials emphasized that neither Ronaldinho, who plays for AC Milan, nor Anderson, with Manchester United, are suspected of having any links to the suspect’s criminal activities and were not under any suspicion of having committed a crime.

Neither player was in Brazil at the time of the arrests, authorities said.

A friend of Anderson’s was looking after his apartment and probably allowed Martins to stay there after he escaped from prison in June, public prosecutor Ricardo Herbstrith said.

Authorities said they tapped telephones and captured a conversation between Ronaldinho and Anderson in which the two talked about attending a samba party with Martins and another suspected drug dealer that was arrested on Monday, Jorge Andre da Silva Fontoura, known as “Nelly.”

“Anderson can be friends with whoever he wants, but he is not involved in crime.”

— Paulo Tonietto, Brazilian soccer player Anderson’s agent

No details were provided about when the conversation took place or where they planned to party with Martins — who police allege is one of the bigger drug dealers in Porto Alegre. At no point in the conversation was drugs mentioned.

“They were only friends with the trafficker — we’re not even sure they knew he was a criminal,” a spokesman for the public ministry in Rio Grande do Sul state told reporters on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak about the case.

It wasn’t clear if drugs were being sold out of Anderson’s apartment, authorities said.

The year-long investigation to break up a drug trafficking ring in Porto Alegre resulted in the capture of 28 suspects late on Monday and early on Tuesday, police said.

Anderson’s agent, Paulo Tonietto, admitted the player’s ties to “Gigi” and “Nelly,” but said the midfielder committed no crime.

“Anderson can be friends with whoever he wants, but he is not involved in crime. He is a serious professional and he will give explanations about what happened at the appropriate time,” Tonietto said.

It was not immediately possible to locate Ronaldinho or his agent.
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