A district court judge ordered eleven traveling Marseille fans to remain behind bars on Friday after they were caught stealing from the duty free of Larnaca Airport.
Around 300 fans of French Ligue 1 football club Marseille arrived on the island on Thursday morning to watch their side play local champions AEL in a Europa League football match later that night.
According to police, eleven of those fans were caught by CCTV stealing 22 bottles of aftershave as well as ten cartons of cigarettes from the duty free area of the island’s biggest airport. The men immediately boarded a bus bound for Nicosia where the game was taking place.
The theft only came to light when the shop owner noticed several items missing and investigators were quick to find the culprits from the airport security cameras.
Police officers moved in and arrested eleven fans when they returned to the airport to return to France.
A fine of €500 was imposed by a Larnaca court judge with one fan being fined an additional €350 after half a gram of cannabis was found in his possession.
But the men told the judge that they had no money to pay the fines prompting the court to order their detention until the fines have been settled.
The French Embassy in Nicosia has been notified.
Marseille had suffered a 3-0 defeat to AEL in what was the biggest ever defeat by a French club at the hands of Cypriot opponents.
Cyprus Weekly