British police say they've arrested English football fans to prevent them from traveling to Poland and Ukraine for the European Championship.
A statement by West Midlands police says three known troublemakers were arrested on Thursday during an operation to confiscate passports of sanctioned fans to prevent them from leaving the country before the tournament.
Football fans with a history of troublemaking have to surrender passports to police before big tournaments, and police said the three arrested had failed to do so.
In 2010, authorities grounded 3,200 fans who had been banned from attending international matches to prevent them from traveling to South Africa for the World Cup.
Police say most of the 214 sanctioned fans in western England have handed their passports to the police for the duration of Euro 2012. The tournament runs from June 8 to July 1.
