South Africa's police chief said on Tuesday a British tabloid journalist has been arrested after what police call an "orchestrated" attempt to undermine World Cup security with an England fan's intrusion into the team's changing room.

National police commissioner Bheki Cele said police arrested Simon Wright on Monday. He said the Sunday Mirror journalist admitted to harbouring and interviewing Pavlos Joseph while police were searching for him.

At a security briefing in South African capital Pretoria, Cele said Wright had allegedly booked hotel accommodation for Joseph using false details.

Wright also had a contract with Joseph for exclusive interviews for seven days "after he made news," according to South Africa's most senior policeman.

"Police have reason to believe that this incident was orchestrated and involved the co-operation of a number of individuals," Cele said.

Cele added that police expected to make more arrests in the case.

"Police strongly believe the motive was to put World Cup security in a bad light and possibly to profit from this act," Cele said of the June 18 incident, in which Joseph entered the dressing room after England drew 0-0 with Algeria at Cape Town's Green Point Stadium.

Joseph gave an exclusive interview to the Sunday Mirror afterward, claiming he was directed to the England dressing room when he asked a security guard where he could find a toilet.

"Do we believe that it was orchestrated by this journalist for Mr. Joseph? Yes, we do," Cele said.

Cele would not say if charges would be brought against the newspaper, but confirmed that Wright had been arrested on Monday night for "defeating the ends of justice" and "flouting the provisions of the Immigration Act."

The newspaper responded to the charge with a statement, calling Wright's reporting of the incident "legitimate."

"Sunday Mirror reporter Simon Wright was arrested and charged in Cape Town last night," the statement said. "He is currently on bail and will appear in court tomorrow.

"He was engaged in a legitimate story for his newspaper and any suggestion that he or the newspaper was involved with Pavlos Joseph before he entered the England dressing room is entirely false."

Cele's wide-ranging security briefing was the commissioner's first public World Cup address since the tournament started. He said 316 people had been arrested since the June 11 kickoff, 207 of them South African citizens. Six Americans and eight UK citizens were also among the number.

The commissioner discussed a case involving Portuguese and Spanish journalists, who were robbed at gunpoint near the town of Magaliesburg, about two hours outside of Johannesburg.

He said the arrest of the three culprits 24 hours after the June 9 incident and their convictions 48 hours later sent "a stern warning out to those considering committing similar offences."

Cele said two Pakistani citizens arrested by police in neighbouring Zimbabwe as they tried to cross over into South Africa had "no terror links" and were detained because they had incorrect entry visas.

Cele praised the behaviour of English fans at the World Cup, who he said behaved particularly well "under stress" at Sunday's heavy 4-1 defeat by Germany in the last 16 in Bloemfontein.

"The match was pretty stressful for them," he said.

Cele also confirmed there had been a burglary at the FIFA headquarters in the plush suburb of Sandton in Johannesburg, where seven replica World Cup trophies were stolen.

"We are looking at it and we suspect that it will be people very familiar with the FIFA offices. We are looking closely at that," Cele said.

FIFA has not commented upon the break in.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP