Criminals can't purge the urge to cheer their team

Argentine police are having success apprehending fugitives at stadiums, Agence France-Presse reports

Argentines are renowned the world over for their passion for soccer.

What's not such common knowledge is how that very fervor is helping police catch criminals.

In the country that produced soccer prodigies like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, it seems fugitives from justice can remain hidden only as long as there isn't a match going on.

Over the past two years, Argentine police have apprehended 424 criminals at soccer games.

The Secure Stand operation that saw police check the identity of 7.5 million fans in almost 800 operations across 60 stadiums has resulted in thieves, rapists and violent criminals ending up behind bars.

Another 1,507 known thugs were denied entry to their game of choice.

That's what the operation was originally set up to accomplish - preventing hooligans from entering stadiums, as Argentine soccer was forced to deal with growing fan violence.

In the 2010 Oscar-winning film, The Secret in Their Eyes, an Argentine fan says: "A guy can change anything. His face, his home, his family, his girlfriend, his religion, his God.

"But there's one thing he can't change: He can't change his passion for the game."

That passion has caught up with numerous criminals in the country. Still, it's barely a drop in the ocean, given Argentina has 50,000 fugitives.

It's not just violent crime in the authorities' sights, as a woman scammer found out when she turned up with her two sons to watch her beloved Talleres de Cordoba play.

She was detained and her husband was called to collect the kids so she could be formally arrested.

Soccer-related violence had become so bad that supporters were barred from traveling to games last year, a measure that has started to be rolled back as a result of the successful Secure Stand operation.

"We've had an interesting curve since implementing the Secure Stand program," said Guillermo Madero, the government's director of sporting security.

"The number of fugitives is the same and those getting access to the stadium is declining. That means the hooligans have stopped going to games."

In September 2017, a man wanted for sexual abuse and aggravated theft, who had been on the run for 11 days, was apprehended trying to get into the ground to watch Racing play San Martin de San Juan.

Juan Matias, a vice-president at Newell's Old Boys, the team Messi supports, was wanted for drug smuggling. In June, he was caught trying to get into a Union game in Santa Fe.

Can't resist

Some of those prevented from entering stadiums were vetoed over incidents that took place during the World Cup in Russia.

Derby matches have proved the most fruitful for police as fans - criminals included - simply can't resist the urge to be at their side's biggest games.

Last November, at a clash between local Buenos Aires rivals San Lorenzo and Huracan, police fingered Silvio Alejandro Rodriguez, who was wanted for sexual assault and corruption of minors.

Perhaps the most memorable arrest was in February during the River Plate-Estudiantes derby, also in Buenos Aires. Nicolas Bordon was wanted for aggravated homicide, drug trafficking, illicit association and resisting authority.

One of his victims was a police officer, much to the "dismay" of those "that participated in his arrest", according to Madero.

Given the number of police officers operating around soccer grounds, it would seem a risk hardly worth taking for a wanted criminal.

But psychologist Betina Payaslian said they simply can't help themselves.

"They think they're doing nothing but trying to avoid the trap, but all they end up doing is searching for it along their path," she said.

"That's the neurosis trap and it's a snag.

"What perplexes them is not understanding how they ended up there in a place that feels so cruelly familiar."

(China Daily 09/08/2018 page10)