Police raid on Greek fans’ clubs

THESSALONIKI, Greece: A cache of weapons including 11 axes were found by Greek police in a raid on one of two football supporters’ clubhouses, Thessaloniki police announced Friday.

The raid late Thursday night at the Aris fans’ HQ led to the confiscation of the axes, 16 iron rods, 17 wooden or plastic bats, four wire cutting tools, 30 firecrackers and flares.

Police also found a computer and recorder as well as banners, jerseys and scarves from various teams.

No supporters were at the clubhouse at the time and no arrests were made.

Another raid on the PAOK fans clubhouse led to 11 people being detained for questioning with police finding two firecrackers and a banner from a non-PAOK team.

The threat of violence led to a crowd ban at last season’s Greek Cup final won by PAOK at a near-empty Olympic stadium.