Greek police arrest Briton for ticket fraud

ATHENS, May 23 (Reuters) Greek police said today they had arrested a 28-year-old Briton for selling 50 forged Champions League final tickets to an Italian travel agent for 78,030 dollar.

''The British man was arrested yesterday in Athens,'' police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said.

The man had sold 50 forged tickets over two days on Monday and Tuesday before being arrested in central Syntagma Square and was now facing charges of forgery and fraud, police said in a statement.

Greek Football Federation officials were called in to examine the tickets and ruled that they were fakes.

''He will be taken to an Athens prosecutor today,'' the statement said.

Liverpool play AC Milan later on Wednesday in the final of European soccer's biggest club competition.

More than 50,000 fans from both teams, many of them without tickets, have arrived in the Greek capital for the match.

Black-market prices for match tickets have rocketed in the past few days to more than 5,000 euros for a single ticket.

REUTERS BJR BD1407