Filenews 22 November 2021
The 12 police officers of the Pafos Directorate and the Port who had been suspended by decision of the Chief of Police in the case of the unauthorised departure of the boat with the migrants from Lebanon, which was under guard at the port of Kato Pafos, returned to their duties as of today, The examination of the case continues, but it was judged that now the 12 can return to their duties until a conclusion is reached.
The unprecedented escape of the boat of 61 irregular migrants from Kato Paphos, where they were for two days, took place on November 11th. A total of 12 members of the force were suspended by decision of the Chief of Police, since it was judged that they were responsible for mistakes or omissions that led to the failure to prevent the escape of these people in time. These are 12 members of the Pafos Police Directorate, of various departments, who according to the competent authorities were charged with the task of guarding the 61 Lebanese and Syrians and a member of the Port Police.
Despite the massive attribution of preliminary responsibilities to members of the force, however, in Paphos there was a heated debate about the circumstances under which the incident occurred. There are specific questions about how the migrants managed to cut the ropes of the boat and free it, when everyone knows how hard these ropes are to cut, and not anticipating that they possessed knives. This is declared unacceptable in the case of a case under investigation involving foreigners who arrived on the territory of the Republic illegally.
Answers are even sought on the issue of the inadequate guarding of the boat, since it was not officially announced that the police investigations had been completed and the foreigners were free to act according to their wishes in matters of their movement.
