“In the early evening of this day, the Czechoslovak police arrested a 35-year-old man in the Central Bohemia region who is reasonably suspected of stealing the skull of St. Zdislava from Lemberk. They managed to obtain information about the place where the rare relic is located, even before the suspect had time to complete his plan,” they wrote on the X network.
It is not clear from the statement whether the police have the skull or not.
The police have not yet provided more information. “We thank the media and the public for the extraordinary interest they have shown in the case, and we ask for your patience – we will release more information as soon as possible,” they added.
Police spokeswoman Ivana Baláková told ČTK that the police know with a high degree of probability where the skull is located. “We are working on it,” she added. She did not want to share more information, considering that “it is more complicated”.
The skull was stolen by an unknown person on Tuesday between six and a quarter to seven in the early evening, shortly before the start of the service. At that time, there was only one priest in the temple, who was preparing the service. The thief came running at the moment when the alarm at the box in which the skull rested was turned off due to preparations. He broke the double glass, picked up the remains and ran away.
According to the superior of the Dominicans, Pavel P. Mayer, he probably had to use a hammer to break the windows, because the relic was behind double glass.
