Police arrested a total of 32 Croatian fans of Hajduk Split football club in Serbia on Friday as they were travelling home after attending a match against Slavia in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, charging 28 of them for vandalism and robbery at a petrol station in Serbia the day before, Serbian Interior Ministry said.

Serbian Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, said the police stopped more than 400 Croatian fans on Friday, and that during a search of their vehicles a number of wooden and metal bars were discovered, along with a few axes and flares, and a small amount of narcotics.

If convicted, the fans facing robbery charges could be sentenced to 30-60 days in prison, Stefanovic said.

Several hundred supporters of the Hajduk Split football club from the Croatian coastal city of Split who had been travelling to Bulgaria had robbed a petrol station on the motorway in near Serbia’s capital Belgrade, taking a large amount of alcohol from the station’s shop, rolling over garbage bins and containers, and leaving graffiti that included a symbol of Croatia’s Nazi puppet regime during World War II.

The detained fans were taken to two police stations, in the Belgrade suburb of Grocka and in the southern Serbian city of Nis.

“Any rampage and wild behaviour which upsets citizens of Serbia and causes material damage or puts their safety in jeopardy will be severely punished,” Stefanovic said, warning both locals and foreigners “to obey Serbia’s regulations and laws.”

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