Právo: Zeman's bodyguards catch thieves

Prague, March 14 (CTK) - The police bodyguards of Milos Zeman, the new Czech president, have caught two thieves in the housing estate on the outskirts of Prague where Zeman lives pending the adaptation of his residential villa at Prague Castle, daily Pravo writes yesterday.

The bodyguards, outside Zeman's place of residence, detained two persons on suspicion of stealing metal from a nearby construction site and they handed them over to the police, the paper writes, citing the Police Presidium's spokeswoman Stepanka Zatloukalova.

The incident occurred in front of the prefab house in the Prague-Stodulky vicinity, in which Zeman, 68, inhabits a flat along with his wife and daughter.

After noticing two suspicious men, the bodyguards found out in an enquiry that the men had arrived in a stolen car, Zatloukalova said.

By no means did the bodyguards' prompt intervention impair their performance as the president's protectors, she emphasised.

Zeman previously criticised the president's police bodyguards for admitting a young man's coming close to and shooting from an airsoft gun at then president Klaus in north Bohemia last autumn.

Zeman, former socialist prime minister who won the direct presidential election in January, replaced Klaus as president on March 8.

As his place of residence he has chosen the Lumbe Villa at Prague Castle, the seat of Czech presidents. The villa, which the previous president Klaus also lived in, is now being adapted to suit the new inhabitants.