Prague, Nov 21 (CTK) – Two Afghan students of a Czech military academy, where they are training to be pilots, left for Germany without the commanders’ permit, where the local police found and returned them to the Hradec Kralove airport, east Bohemia, daily Pravo writes yesterday.
The two future helicopter pilots did not violate any Czech law, but they will be held accountable by Afghan authorities, Pravo writes.
“They had a permitted stay in the Czech Republic. By crossing the internal border of the Schengen Area, they did not breach any law,” regional police spokeswoman Hana Klecalova is quoted as saying.
The Czech police started the search for the two missing soldiers based on a tip, Pravo writes.
The German police eventually found the two man, aged 20 and 26, and returned them to Hradec Kralove, it adds.
“We were told that the two military students were missing since Wednesday morning when they disappeared from a hotel in Lazne Belohrad, where the Afghan group lives,” Klecalova said.
“We started a search and loaded the relevant data in the information system of the Schengen Area countries,” she added.
“Later in the day, they were found in Germany and sent back,” Klecalova said.
The Afghan group is trained by Czech private companies under U.S. auspices. The training is not done by the Czech military, Pravo writes.
“The responsibility for the Afghans’ training at the Hradec Kralove airport is shouldered by private companies which have the relevant equipment for these affairs,” well-informed sources have revealed to Pravo.
“The Americans are likely to train them for the helicopters they want to deliver to Afghanistan which the Czech military does not have,” they added.
“This is why the Afghans are trained by private entities who have the machines. We have trained them for Russian-made helicopters,” the sources said.
The Hradec Kralove airport now serves for purely civilian purposes without direct links to the Czech military. The pilots’ training on the commercial basis is made by the companies DSA and Heli Czech. Both companies’ executives have declined to comment on the affair.
pv/t/hol
