Garda `was warned' about football thugs over 3 deckys

The Irish police were given the names of gangs of suspected football hooligans going to Dublin and details of their travel arrangements and stadium seat numbers, it was revealed yesterday.

The confidential document by the National Football Intelligence Unit will embarrass the Garda, which yesterday said the "regrettable events" had taken place in spite of extensive preparatory work.

It emerged that the football unit, which is part of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, provided information to the Garda about the threats that English fans posed for more than one week before the game.

The warnings, leaked yesterday to the Evening Herald in Dublin, provide an insight into the unit's intelligence-gathering role. The document said: "This fixture continues to attract a very high degree of interest from the hooligan elements around the country. A large number of intelligence reports have been received from Football Intelligence Officers."

It included a warning that fighting was expected to break out after the national anthem was played at the start of the match - rioting happened with 27 minutes of the game's start.

The unit provided travel details of "target hooligan groups" from Sheffield, London, Oxford, Leeds, Wigan, Bolton, Oldham, Sunderland, Leicester, Manchester, Hull, Carlisle and Middlesbrough. Everton and Liverpool gangs, described as "mainly thieves who will used forged or stolen cheque and bank cards", were identified.

It reported the airports would be monitored by football intelligence officers and the Special Branch, and that a special operation was set up at Holyhead to record the movement of supporters on Wednesday.

The leaked document is only part of the information sent to the Garda by the football unit. Other details included names, addresses and personal details of known hooligans, such as nicknames, aliases, convictions, distinguishing marks and tattoos.

There were details of about 50 right-wing extremists connected to the British National Party. The unit identified them as "hardcore troublemakers".

The unit, staffed by about 10 police officers, fed information from Special Branches throughout the country, started sending information to the Irish police at the end of January.

Detective Chief Inspector Bryan Drew, head of the intelligence unit, said: "We have been in regular contact with the Garda since the end of January - on an hourly basis over the last two days, giving them detailed information." He said of the troublemakers: "We know who most of them are, but of course the big frustration is, we couldn't stop them going."

The unit provides photographs of suspects, but none was sent to Dublin. There was no face-to-face meeting between the two police authorities.

Only information is sent to foreign police forces. The unit does not usually offer advice.

The unit was set up in 1989 at an intelligence-gathering organisation. Its computer data base contains the names and details of about 5,000 people involved in criminal activity connected with football. This includes violence, drug-dealing, credit card fraud, and counterfeiting at and around matches.

The unit uses mobile "photo-phones", through which the photographs of suspects are sent to police forces.

As well as the 10 full-time police officers seconded to the unit, the organisation is in close contact with police forces throughout the country. They work with about 90 football intelligence officers attached to all Premier and First Division clubs to help identify troublemakers. There is also a "hooligan telephone line" for the public to report suspects.