Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema was arrested by police and locked up for a night in Versailles, France on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a plot to blackmail French teammate Mathieu Valbuena, MARCA reported.
A police officer who spoke under condition of anonymity with the Spanish football paper said Benzema’s name had cropped up in a phone tapping saga which caused authorities to open investigations into the matter in July.
In October, many suspects including former France and Liverpool forward Djibril Cisse were rounded up and interrogated over allegations of attempting to blackmail Valbuena using sex video footage.
But in his reaction to Benzema’s arrest, his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier told MARCA that the forward was ready to answer any question “if he deemed it necessary” and “has nothing to do with this matter”.