PRAGUE - THE Czech Republic has suspended the issuing of new visas for Vietnamese until the end of the year because of criminality in the Vietnamese community, a newspaper reported.

While the government has not publicly confirmed the move, the Vietnamese community has hit out at the move. The Vietnamese-Czech Association called the decision 'disgraceful' and 'crazy'.

The Lidove Novivy daily said police and the Czech secret service had gathered information on rising crime amongst the Vietnamese community involving counterfeit goods, tax evasion, and cannabis-growing.

Vietnamese are the third-biggest minority in the Czech Republic behind Slovaks and Ukrainians.

Interior Minister Ivan Langer told CTK news agency: 'I can confirm that the government is looking to address this difficult issue, but I cannot say any more.' Lidove Noviny quoted Mr Langer as saying the Czech Republic needs to take 'concrete measures' to protect itself from criminality.

The Czech embassy in Hanoi received 14,000 long-stay visa requests in 2007, according to the foreign ministry. -- AFP