You're reading: Norway police seize Games tickets from Russia, Belarus

OSLO - Norwegian police said on Thursday they had seized nearly a thousand Olympic tickets from Russia and Belarus and allegedly sold by an online ticket agency blacklisted by British authorities.

Swathes of empty seats at venues in sections reserved for
Games officials, national Olympic committees and their friends
and families have infuriated fans who missed out on buying
tickets.

Officers confiscated 455 tickets in one batch after a Polish
citizen attempted to bring them into Norway and seized nearly
400 tickets from a mail parcel after the shipping firm alerted
them.

“The tickets we have seized come from Russia and Belarus,”
police spokesman Joo Arne Maana said. “The tickets were issued
especially to Russia and Belarus and they are marked as ‘not for
re-sale’.”

Tickets intended for the “Olympic family”, which includes
sponsors, national committees and friends, are often marked “not
for re-sale” but police declined to specify what entity in
Russia and Belarus the seized tickets were issued to.

The tickets were sold by Euroteam, a Norway-based online
ticket agency, police said.

British police warned last month that Euroteam was not
authorised to sell Olympic tickets and customers may not receive
their tickets or may not be granted access to venues.

Euroteam could not be contacted for comment but said in a
message on its website that it no longer sells Olympic tickets
and offered a full refund to any unsatisfied customers.