Two women arrested as part of Ronaldinho case in Paraguay

Two women were arrested on Thursday in Asuncion for alleged links to the case of Ronaldinho Gaucho and his brother, who were detained for travelling to Paraguay with fake passports.

Before announcing the arrests, the prosecutor, Federico Delfino, told the media that the documents were issued in Paraguay between last December and January of this year and that their numbers correspond to other people that he did not identify.

The arrested women could be the original holders of the passports with which the two brothers went through the controls at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport on Wednesday.

Delfino explained that the former Barcelona player will face the crime of using a public document of false content, as both passports read the names of Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (Ronaldinho) and his brother, Roberto de Assis Moreira.

The two detainees, Maria Isabel Gayoso and Esperanza Apolonia Caballero, are now being dealt with by the Crime Investigation Department of the National Police.

Meanwhile, Ronaldinho and his brother are still in the Organised Crime Department, pending the decision of the Prosecutor's Office.

Ronaldinho travelled to Paraguay to present the free medical assistance program "Children's Health Mobile" and launch the book "Genius of life".

The two Brazilians passed customs controls and stayed at the Hotel Resort Yacht and Golf Club Paraguayo in the city of Lambare, which is outside Asuncion.

There, they spent the night in police custody, once the National Police gave the alert about the documents with which they entered the country.

Wilmondes Sousa, who is suspected of giving the Paraguayan passports to the two Brazilians upon getting off the plane and before heading to passport control, was also arrested at the hotel.

Delfino did not explain the reason behind Ronaldinho's decision to use these documents, since he left Sao Paulo with his Brazilian passport.

The prosecutor explained that the two brothers got back their Brazilian passports in October or November, after they were removed from them due to economic problems that he did not detail.

On Wednesday night, according to a statement from the Prosecutor's Office, the two brothers declared that they were invited to Asuncion by Nelson Belotti, the owner of the Il Palazzo casino.

So far there is no official information about the alleged relationship with the Paraguayan businesswoman in charge of the charity project that was to be presented on Thursday afternoon at the hotel where the former Barcelona player stayed.

The Minister of the Interior, Euclides Acevedo, blamed the Migration department of the airport on Thursday morning for not having prevented Ronaldinho's entry into the country, since his Paraguayan passport was not registered in the system.