Karim Benzema has been arrested after being accused of blackmail related to a sex tape featuring fellow player Mathieu Valbuena.
The Real Madrid and France forward arrived at the police station in Versailles, near Paris, early on Wednesday and was placed in detention, the local prosecutor confirmed to AFP, without giving further information.
Investigators are trying determine the extent to which Benzema was aware of the intimate video featuring Valbuena, which found its way into the hands of blackmailers.
According to the source, Benzema mentioned the sex tape to Valbuena during a meeting of the French team in early October.
It is thought one of Benzema’s relatives was contacted by the suspected blackmailers with a view to involving the footballer in their scheme, the source said.
Police are seeking to determine whether he was teasing Valbuena when he mentioned the tape, or trying to make him pay the blackmailers.
Reports in France on Wednesday evening suggested that Benzema would spend the night in custody.
Benzema, 27, was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal in the summer but opted to stay at Real Madrid.
The striker missed the game against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, with the club saying that he had picked up an injury with the national team.
Last month, former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse was held in police custody in connection to the alleged blackmail case.
The ex-France international was understood to be one of four men under investigation by French police.
Cisse and Valbuena have previously been teammates both at international level for France, as well as at club level for Marseilles between 2007 and 2009, however police conducting the inquiry told French newspaper, Le Figaro, that Cisse was part of their investigation into a plot to extort Valbuena of money.
Cisse is currently a free agent having been released by former side SC Bastia at the end of last season. The 34-year-old, who is set to appear on the French version of Strictly Come Dancing in the coming weeks, recently announced he was taking a break from football: but maintained he was not yet retiring.
While police have failed to confirm the existence of the alleged sex tape, Versailles investigators said that Cisse was being held in relation to an alleged plan to extort the 31-year-old Valbuena of money.
In October a prosecutor said: “Djibril Cisse was taken into custody… in connection with a judicial investigation opened in the district court of Versailles on July 31 2015. This is an offence punishable by at least five years in prison.”
Source: The Telegraph
