WHILE the eight men said to belong to the terrorist wing of an Islamic fundamentalist group are still being questioned by London police after their arrests on Tuesday, unofficial word from Scotland Yard is that they were not planning to bomb the England v Tunisia World Cup match, as was claimed yesterday.
Scotland Yard anti-terrorist squad officers, some of whom were armed, raided six venues across London, with explosives, bomb-making equipment, guns, maps and World Cup brochures believed to have been found. A similar haul is said to have been recovered by Belgian police in Brussels recently when they arrested a seven-man support-team from the terrorist wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, a band of religious extremists determined to create a fundamentalists Moslem state in Algeria.
Police sources have confirmed the men were North Africans suspected of belonging to same terror gang. They were tracked following a joint operation with French and Belgian authorities which led many papers to jump to the conclusion that the European police had closed the net on the suspects because they had planned to bomb World Cup venues.

FAKE BALLS KICKED OUT CUSTOMS men say they have foiled a plan to flood Britain with fake World Cup footballs. Five people could be charged after a raid on an importer in Exeter, Devon, uncovered 3500 counterfeit Mitre-branded balls and 500 more were recovered from local shops. The racket came to Devon trading standards council's attention when Mitre began receiving complaints about balls that had deflated after a few days. It later emerged that the fakes had been sold for between £5 and £8 - £5 cheaper than the real thing. Said Devon trading standards director Steve Butterworth: "We have nipped the problem in the bud. We think this is the first World Cup scam." Devon trading standards said it was not known how many balls could have been on their way into Britain, but it was suspected that an Indian source was looking to supply other outlets in the UK. "Counterfeit balls are poor quality, possibly made by an exploited, unskilled workforce and do not represent value for money," said a Mitre spokesman.

PEREZ OUT OF COLOMBIA TEAM Can't Keep Nose Out Of Trouble ENGLAND'S World Cup opponents Colombia saw their plans hit again yesterday by the news that their key defender Wilson Perez would not be allowed to travel to France, because of drugs charges. That comes 24 hours after midfield playmaker and national captain Carlos Valderrama was told he has to pay a £20,000 tax bill to the French Inland Revenue or he will not be allowed back into the country. An appeal court in Bogota ruled that the experienced Perez, capped 37 times, could not join the squad because he is currently on bail after being found guilty of drug trafficking. He was sentenced last December to 50 months in jail for being caught in possession of 176g of cocaine in October 1995. However, Valderrama is set to play for Colombia, who take on England at the end of June in their final group match, after reassuring French officials he will pay them the tax he owes from his spell with first division club Montpellier, who he left in 1991. He originally believed the club had paid the tax.

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