LONDON, May 17: Thailand has emerged as a possible trouble spot before and during the World Cup finals starting this month, a senior officer at Britain’s National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) said on Friday.

Bryan Drew, head of the Specialist Intelligence Branch, told a news

conference the NCIS knew a number of British supporters who had been involved in soccer-related violence intended to travel to Thailand.

British supporters caused widespread damage during rioting in Marseille at the 1998 World Cup.

“We have a concern about Thailand,” he said. “We know that a number of known football hooligans in this country intend to go to Thailand.

“They did intend then to seek to go into Japan and South Korea thinking that Japanese and Korean law enforcement authorities might not be looking for them.”

“I hope that they get the message that no matter wherever they get to fly from they will not get in.”

Drew said other Britons intended to stay in Thailand and watch the games from a beach bar rather than from a bar back home.

He said the information had been given to the Japanese, South Korean and Thai authorities.

“We have given it to the Thai police because potentially they might have a public order issue, themselves, to deal with,” he said. “We are in constant contact with the authorities in those countries.”

Drew said 1,072 British supporters had been banned from travelling to Japan because of their past involvement in soccer violence.

“This is a 10-fold increase from the figures which existed when we had the same process for Euro2000,” he said.

The supporters were ordered to surrender their passports under provisions of the Football (Disorder) Act 2000 by midnight on Thursday.

The passports will be retained for the duration of the tournament which opens on May 31 and concludes on June 30.

Those barred include 112 Cardiff City supporters and 66 from Leeds United.

Drew said other fans who were not on the banned list would also be refused entry by Japanese immigration officers if they had criminal records for violence or drugs.

The names of a further 200 people who the NCIS thought could pose potential risks had been passed to the Japanese authorities.

He said the NCIS estimated about 8,000 British fans would travel to Japan, where England meet Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria in group F.

An undisclosed number of police officials, known as spotters, will be deployed both in stadiums and on the streets to help avert potential violence.

Drew said British law enforcement officers were anxious to reassure the Japanese that not all England supporters were potential hooligans.

“We are trying to make sure that decent supporters don’t get hassled, which is often their complaint,” he said.—Reuters