Detectives get high prison sentences for conspiring with gangsters

Two former detectives of the Interior Ministry’s elite crime squad have received high prison sentences for conspiring with gangsters. Josef Opava and Petr Konarik received 13- and ten-year prison sentences respectively for conspiring with the leaders of the so-called Berdych gang, providing them with information from police files, destroying evidence in their favour and helping them escape prosecution on numerous occasions. The Berdych gang is believed to be the biggest organized crime ring in the country. It is suspected of a vast number of murders, robberies and extortion of rich entrepreneurs in the years between 1995 and 2004. Some members of the gang have already been convicted, others are awaiting trial.