EXTRA police officers are patrolling ports, airports and train stations in the region to prevent known football hooligans travelling to Germany for the World Cup, which begins on Friday.

Operation Jardon, run by the British Transport Police (BTP), started on Monday and includes Ashford International station, a Eurostar terminal.

More than 200 transport police officers are involved in the operation in this country as well as 31 uniformed officers in Germany.

Asst Ch Const Alan Pacey, who is heading up the operation, said: "Anyone who has a football banning order will be stopped and prevented from travelling to Germany.

"Our message is clear – disruption, hooliganism and anti-social behaviour from any supporters will not be tolerated."

The BTP's Supt Colum Price added: "We are taking a very robust stance.

"We've got a really good intelligence system to ensure those individuals we know could try and travel to Germany will be stopped.

"Even if they manage to get through, in Germany we've got exactly the same system to track down those individuals so they can't cause problems."