Filenews 16 July 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivassilis
The permanent Assize Court of Nicosia imposed prison sentences of 13 and 11 years in prison yesterday on a 26-year-old Syrian refugee of Kurdish origin, for his role as a warehouseman of a large amount of drugs.
Syros was caught on 6.2.2022, in a rural area between the village of Agrokipia and Malounta in the Nicosia district, possessing 3 kg and 201 grams of cannabis and 2 kg and 273 grams of cocaine. Also found in his possession were an automatic BLOW brand pistol and a semi-automatic pistol with the inscription SARSILMAZ. 16 cartridges were also found.
The defendant, when he was still an infant, settled with his family in Cyprus, where they remain as recognized refugees. In Court he admitted possession of the drugs and weapons and according to his lawyer, he temporarily possessed them (for three weeks) on behalf of a third party, repaying to him the service which the latter did to him, having mediated to end death threats, which he received from a person of the underworld.
According to the counsel, the defendant was afraid of the real owner of the drugs, weapons and explosives and acted under emotional charge, while he himself would have no financial benefit.
In its judgment, the Court states that it appears that by his actions, the defendant made himself part of the implementation of a plan for the trafficking of drugs and the storage and transport of weapons and explosives, playing his own role in the whole operation. The fact that the accused would not obtain a financial benefit does not materially alter the case, since he would derive a benefit from his actions, that of retaliating a favour to a third person. Therefore, the defendant, the Assize Court notes, served his own other interests by serving and participating in illegal activities of such magnitude.
