Officers from Poland’s Central Investigative Bureau have detained twenty-one football hooligans suspected of drug trafficking, extortion and assaults.

Among the detained are Marek H. alias ‘Hania’ and Daniel W., leaders of hooligan ‘ultras’related to Legia Warszawa FC and Olimpia Elblag FC.

“Usually a gang consists of members of just one football hooligan group but supporters of Legia and Olimpia, under a secret agreement, have joined forces and instead of fighting against each other they did illegal business together,” Mariusz Sokolowski, spokesman for the Polish Police HQ is quoted in Gazeta Wyborcza as saying.

In February, two hooligans from the eastern city of Lublin were arrested for the attempted murder of five people and police from the industrial region of Silesia recently broke up a gang related to Ruch Chorzow FC.

The criminals devoted money from drug trafficking and burglary to supporting their families, organizing shows during football matches, martial art trainings and lawyers.

“Hooligans are involved in illegal alcohol, cigarette and drug trafficking, assaults and car thefts,” says Sokolowski.

Several weeks ago, officers from the unit seized personal data of leaders of hooligan fighting squads related to all Ekstraklasa clubs.

According to the data, hooligans from Chorzow specialized in burglary, their colleagues from Poznan in drug trafficking and from Lodz in illegal alcohol trade.

The Central Investigative Bureau is planning a mass raid on hooligan groups. (mg)