A British soccer hooligan was detained and will be deported, South African police said Saturday.
A court also sentenced three thieves to a total of 34 years in prison for robbing foreign journalists.
The 42-year-old British male, who allegedly has a history of inciting racially motivated violence at sporting events, was detained after flying into South Africa on Friday, police spokeswoman Sally de Beer said. He will be deported to Britain later Saturday.
Eleven suspected Argentine football hooligans have been deported ahead of Africa's first World Cup.
Three journalists - two from Portugal, one from Spain - were robbed of money, camera equipment, laptops and mobile phones last Wednesday in a town northwest of Johannesburg. One of the journalists was robbed at gunpoint.
``It took police no more than 24 hours to arrest these lunatic scoundrels,'' South Africa minister of police Nathi Mthetwa said in a statement. ``It further took the justice department no more than 48 hours to sentence them. Now this is what we have been echoing: that we will act with swiftness on any criminality.''
Two of the convicted men were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each for armed robbery, and the third to four years for possession of stolen property. Two of the men are Zimbabwean, the other Nigerian.
``Not only has justice been done in this case, but it has been seen to be done swiftly,'' said General Bheki Cele, South Africa's top police officer.
South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, and the thefts were a reminder of the dangers facing hundreds of thousands of fans coming to watch the tournament.
Authorities have set up 56 dedicated courts to deal quickly with World Cup-related cases.
``No criminal, whether South African or foreign, will terrorize law-abiding citizens or visitors during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond, especially because this is a festival of the beautiful game,'' Mthetwa said.
