British hooligans enter Germany
2006-06-07 13:32
Neuss - The head of the German
police unit monitoring hooliganism said on Wednesday that five
banned English troublemakers and possibly more were believed to
have entered Germany.
They are all subject to banning orders, which are central to
the British government's drive to curb hooliganism and prevent
known troublemakers from leaving the country by obliging them to surrender their passports.
British authorities issued some 3 300 banning orders ahead
of the World Cup but not all those affected have handed over
their passports.
Michael Endler, head of the ZIS information centre, said
about 180 passports were still missing.
"Of these 180 individuals, five have entered Germany
according to our information."
He added: "We don't yet know how they entered Germany. We
are trying to find out where they are and whether any more than
five have managed to get in."
Endler played down concerns about the missing passports and
whether this might increase the chance of violence during the
World Cup.
"The number of missing passports has been reduced to 180
from an earlier reported 300... this gives us a 95 percent
success rate."
The banning orders would significantly help security during
the World Cup, Endler said, but he stressed authorities were not viewing the fans of England or any other country in a higher
risk category.