The Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes has a photograph of fugitive murder suspect Karol Mello reportedly sitting in a popular Prague restaurant and the Sme daily reported on June 11 that the picture was probably taken last autumn when Mello had been already hiding for several months and Interpol was searching for him.
“According to our sources, the picture is from autumn 2011,” said journalist Jaroslav Kmenta, as quoted by Sme. “It was taken by businessman Čestmír Vašák who is co-owner of brothel Escade in Prague’s [city district] Nusle.”
Last summer Mello was in Kosovo, according to police information and it probably was not very difficult for him to escape to the Czech Republic, Sme wrote, adding that he did not seem to try to hide from public and he had not tried to change his personal appearance.
Mello is an alleged mafia boss accused of a double murder in the village of Most pri Bratislave in 2004. After successfully hiding for years, Polish special police forces arrested Mello in October 2010 but he was released by Slovak courts shortly after he was arrested, last May, reportedly due to procedural errors by a court.
After being detained again he filed a complaint and was again released from pre-trial custody for the second time later in the same month. Another arrest warrant has been issued, Sme wrote.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
