Two Czech nationals who are alleged members of the Czech Republic's biggest organised crime gang are living in Dublin and cannot be extradited because of an apparent loophole in extradition legislation between the two states.
The men are alleged to be members of a 60-strong gang which for two years has been the subject of the biggest criminal investigation seen in the Czech Republic.
The Czech authorities want to interview the two men about crimes in which they were allegedly involved and other incidents in which their former associates are accused of involvement.
Their gang's alleged activities include murder, kidnapping and torturing wealthy business figures, bank robberies and a series of truck hijackings of cigarettes and other high-value goods.
One of the men is living in a housing estate in Lucan.
The whereabouts of the other man is uncertain, but The Irish Times has established that he has used addresses in Celbridge, Co Kildare, and in Rathcoole, Co Dublin.
It has been widely reported in the Czech Republic that telephone calls he has made to people there have been traced to Ireland.
Despite receiving extradition requests from the Czech government for the men's return there the Government believes it cannot legally extradite them.
It says the men must be extradited under the new European Arrest Warrant (EAW) rather than the legislation which predated it, the Extradition Act, 1965.
However, under the implementation of the EAW in the Czech Republic, extradition to that country is not permitted if the alleged offences predate November 2004. One of the men has been in Ireland for two years. The other has been here for three years. All of the offences in relation to which the two are wanted predate last November.
