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Sroubek 'double' Antolik likely to have visited New Zealand
Immigration records of the convicted gangster Karel Sroubek suggest his fellow Czech kickboxer Jan Antolik - whose passport he used to evade authorities as a wanted man - may also have come to New Zealand.
Photo: Carmen Bird Photography
Sroubek, who is serving a jail sentence for importing drugs, has lodged an appeal to stay in New Zealand with the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.
Documents released under the Official Information Act show he arrived in the country twice but did not appear to depart in between.
One Customs officer analysing his movements thinks this happened more than once in what he described as trips by Antolik 'to meet his double'.
Border records showed Mr Antolik or Sroubek arrived at different months in 2003 and 2004 without corresponding departure dates.
They show border alerts at foreign airports for Jan Antolik trying to enter New Zealand in 2005, having already been recorded as arriving here a few months before.
The documents showed that in that year, two files were created for Antolik as it was not possible to reconcile all of his border movements.
But that does not appear to have been picked up by decision-makers looking at his residence visa app, which was approved in 2008.
Sroubek later received a discharge without conviction on passport fraud, having told a judge he feared for his life because of corrupt police and underworld figures seeking revenge if he was deported.
He was also cleared of aggravated robbery and kidnapping with members of the Hell's Angels.
Sroubek is serving a five year, nine-month jail sentence for importing almost 5kg of ecstasy and was denied parole in September.
He faced deportation, but the immigration minister Iain Lees-Galloway overturned that.
However, he reversed his decision last November saying an administrative error meant Sroubek should never have been granted residence, as he also had convictions in the Czech Republic.
In a statement, Immigration New Zealand INZ did not say whether it knew whether Jan Antolik came to New Zealand.
INZ general manager Stephen Dunstan said his travel history was "not clear cut".
"INZ records show two entries into New Zealand under the name of Jan Antolik on separate occasions in September 2003 and November 2003," he said.
"There is no record of an individual leaving New Zealand under the name of Jan Antolik prior to the November 2003 entry.
"INZ does not have any record of the two identities being raised as part of the residence application in 2008."
A review into Sroubek's case and how case files are handled is due to be completed this month.
Meanwhile, Sroubek has now lodged his appeal to stay with the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, which says no date has been set for the hearing.
The justice ministry yesterday confirmed it had not received an extradition request from the Czech Republic where he is wanted on outstanding charges and to serve an existing jail term.
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