FOOTBALL thugs were issued a severe warning last night after an unprecedented operation swung into action to prevent them marring the European Championships.

Police teams had the region's ports and airports under intense scrutiny as the run-up to England's opening match of the tournament, against France in Lisbon on Sunday, began in earnest yesterday.

The increased numbers of officers at Teesside and Newcastle airports paid off, with no suspected hooligans risking an attempt to make the trip to Portugal.

The significant presence at Teesside Airport, a joint operation between Durham and Cleveland Police, will be maintained over the coming weeks.

Detective Sergeant Ian Fawcett, of Cleveland Police's football intelligence unit, said: "We have had nobody try to go through who was known to us."

No offenders have made an attempt to get out of the country through Newcastle Airport, which also has extra patrols in place, or via the ferry terminal at North Shields.

The Teesside Airport clampdown began in February, when England faced Portugal in a friendly in Faro, and was revived for a match against Sweden at the end of March.

Yesterday, Cleveland Police also reported a 100 per cent success rate in known hooligans surrendering their passports to police ahead of the big kick-off.

Thirty-eight people on Teesside have complied with the stringent conditions of their court-imposed bans.

Det Sgt Fawcett said: "The next stage is that whenever England play they have to come to a nominated police station.

"We want to get across the message that if they do not comply they will be arrested and put before the courts."

Durham Police has made 11 men the subject of banning orders. They must also adhere to strict conditions.

In total, more than 100 hooligans from the North-East and North Yorkshire region are the subject of banning orders - a record number.

* A suspected hooligan was arrested trying to board a flight as part of a Euro 2004 police operation at Liverpool John Lennon Airport yesterday.

James Campbell, 21, was detained after causing a disturbance. Officers ran his details through a national database and discovered he was known to police.

He appeared before magistrates and was banned from travelling abroad.