“Robbery of the century” trial begins

The Municipal Court of Prague has begun the trial of “the robbery of the century”, though the main suspect has not been apprehended. The state prosecutor accuses a guard for the security agency G4S, František Procházka, of stealing more than 500 million crowns from the company almost exactly four years ago. Procházka disappeared after the crime without a trace, though his friend and suspected accomplice, Milan Čermák, was arrested in early 2008 and found with several million crowns in cash as well as SIM cards and several licensed weapons. Police say that trace evidence links him to the vehicle used in the theft. Čermák himself says that he had sat in the van with Procházka two weeks before the robbery and never saw him again afterwards. If convicted he faces up to ten years’ imprisonment.