Seven people, referred to by Police Corps president Jaroslav Spišiak as a 'pensioners' club' in view of the age of their 71-year-old leader, have been charged with attempting to traffic in nuclear substances in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Slovak and Czech officials announced at a press conference on Thursday, December 15.
Spišiak said that the attempt was effectively thwarted because the suspects had been monitored by the Slovak police since February, after a tip-off from their Czech colleagues. "Initially, the trade was supposed to take place in the Czech Republic, where the first negotiations occurred," said Roman Kafka from the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Brno, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Spišiak refused to say what kind of nuclear substances were in the frame. He did state, however, that they originated from former republics of the Soviet Union.
According to the General Prosecutor's Office's special-task force department head Peter Šufliarsky, the seven accused are currently in custody and could face up to ten years in jail.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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