World Cup row ref arrested 'smuggling heroin'

One of football's most notorious referees has been arrested at a New York airport with bags of heroin attached to his body, according to US prosecutors.

Byron Moreno, the Ecuador official who was in charge of the match which saw South Korea controversially knock Italy out of the 2002 World Cup, was caught on Monday at John F Kennedy airport as he tried to smuggle the drugs into the US.

FIFA, world football's governing body, released a statement that they were not planning to look into the affair.

"The arrest of Byron Moreno appears to be completely unrelated to football," it said. "At the time of writing, no investigation is foreseen."

Italy complained vehemently after their 2-1 extra-time defeat in the last 16 tie in Daejeon, South Korea.

Moreno sent off Italy's Francesco Totti for two bookings, the second of them for diving, gave tournament co-hosts South Korea a penalty for shirt-pulling and disallowed an Italian 'golden goal' that many observers felt was perfectly legal.

Later in 2002, Moreno played 13 minutes of injury time in an Ecuadorean league match as a team came back from 3-2 down to win 4-3. He was subsequently banned for 20 matches and retired soon after.