Tomas Puta and Maros Sulej appeared in court in Dublin last week at the beginning of their extradition hearing. However, the case was postponed until 12 December.

The two men, both aged 34, were arrested in Ireland in August on foot of a European arrest warrant. They are said to be members of the Berdych gang, a notorious criminal gang wanted for robbery, murder and kidnapping in the Czech Republic.

Twenty lawyers, the state attorney and a senior judge all travelled from the Czech Republic to Dublin last week in order to attend the hearing of the two men. They are expected to return in December.

Czech police launched a crackdown on the 36-member gang as part of the biggest operation against organised crime in Czech history. Puta and Sulej moved to Ireland in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

Puta had been living in Celbridge, Co Kildare and Sulej in Lucan, Co Dublin.

Sulej, a former member of the Slovak police, is wanted for questioning over a spate of armed robberies, while Puta is suspected of involvement in robbery and murder. Their case resulted in tension between the Czech and Irish governments after an extradition request lodged by the Czech government in 2005 was not acted upon due to anomalies in the Czech European Arrest Warrant legislation.

State Attorney Tomas Milec expressed his disappointment that the hearing was postponed until December, but added that the Irish court was within its rights to defer the hearing.

The Czech justice ministry had earlier this month called on the Irish authorities to deprive the two men of access to telephones, claiming they were being allowed to call their associates in the Czech Republic. The Irish Prison Service responded by saying that every prisoner is allowed limited access to telephones.