British 'ticket tout' sent home from World Cup

A British football fan who was caught carrying large numbers of World Cup tickets was sent home from Japan yesterday, along with two other men who were on a list of potential hooligans.

The unnamed man, who was said to be in his 30s, was sent back to Britain after arriving at Tokyo's Narita airport on Monday on a flight from London. He was held overnight after being found to be carrying 175 tickets, apparently with the intention of selling them illegally.

Of the two other men who were turned away, one was named as Mark Holden, 33, from Burnley. According to Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), he was sentenced to two months in prison in 1998 for threatening a police officer at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Information on all three men was passed on by NCIS, which has spent months collaborating with the Japanese and Korean police in an attempt to prevent potential troublemakers from getting close to the tournament.

More than a thousand have had their passports impounded for the World Cup and NCIS "spotters" are on duty at airports to help local police identify known hooligans. Yesterday's detentions bring to six the number of fans turned away from Japan or South Korea so far.

The Assistant Chief Constable of Durham, Ron Hogg, is in Tokyo co-ordinating the teams of spotters.