The Czech gang in which two men now living in Ireland were allegedly involved was the biggest organised crime gang to operate in that country for much of the last decade.
The Czech authorities believe a number of high-ranking police officers in Prague were members of the gang, the first in recent history to challenge the supremacy of the Russian Mafia in the Czech underworld.
They are alleged to have worked with senior police officers in setting up members of rival gangs for capture by the police and then trying to take over their activities. During some armed truck hijackings, gang members dressed as police officers.
About 40 members of the 60-strong gang are either in jail or are awaiting trial in connection with criminal activities dating back to 1996.
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.
The Irish Times has established one of the men, a former member of the Czechoslovakian police's crack anti-crime force, is living in a housing estate in Lucan.
He has also used an address in Celbridge, Co Kildare, since coming to Ireland around three years ago. He is currently working in the construction trade and is believed to have entered the Republic through Northern Ireland.
He was arrested in Clondalkin two weeks ago for drink-driving but was released.
The whereabouts of the other man is uncertain but The Irish Times has established that he has used addresses in Celbridge and in Rathcoole, Co Dublin. His phone calls to the Czech Republic have been traced to Ireland by the authorities there. He first came here two years ago.
The Irish Government believes the two can only be extradited under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). It believes the old extradition legislation, part 2 of the Extradition Act 1965, cannot be applied to anybody wanted for questioning in the Czech Republic after January 25th last, when that country became a designated State under the new EAW. However, because of the manner in which the Czech Republic implemented the EAW, anybody wanted for questioning in connection with any crime committed before November 2004 cannot be extradited to that country under the EAW.
They must be extradited under legislation governing extraditions before it came into effect in the Czech Republic.
The issue has arisen because EU member states were allowed to implement the EAW in whatever way they believed worked best, within a set legislative framework.
The Irish Government has reservations about whether the Czech Republic remained within this framework. Effectively, any criminal who committed a crime in the Czech Republic before November 2004 can, under current legislation, live openly in Ireland without fear of being extradited.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has conveyed the Government's views to the deputy prime minister in Prague. Department of Justice officials have similarly raised the issue with their Czech counterparts.
The Czech department of justice and the Czech embassy in Dublin declined to answer questions on the case.
The Department of Justice said in Dublin that it had a policy of not answering questions relating to individual cases.
