Pafos Live 19 February 2024
The Police made a second arrest yesterday, as part of their investigations into the case of the detection of a large quantity of drugs in Paphos, on February 13, 2024.
He is a 29-year-old resident of Paphos, who was arrested under a court warrant and detained to facilitate interrogations. In the same case, a 28-year-old man was arrested on February 15 and has been in eight-day detention. The examination of the case began on the afternoon of February 13, 2024, when a driver of a vehicle failed to stop for checking, following a relevant signal by police officers, on a road in Paphos.
A chase of the vehicle followed, but it was not stopped. The two persons, who were in the vehicle, abandoned it at a point in the village of Emba and ran away. During his escape attempt, the driver of the vehicle was seen throwing a bag on the roof of an abandoned house, which after being received was found to contain a quantity of cannabis, gross weight of one kilogram and approximately 114 grams. This was followed by searches of houses and vehicles linked to the two occupants of the vehicle, during which a quantity of cannabis, with a gross weight of approximately 10 kg and approximately 884 grams, a quantity of cocaine with a gross weight of approximately one kilogram and 19 grams and a sum of approximately €75,000 were found and seized.
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Coordinated operations to identify foreigners residing illegally in Cyprus were carried out yesterday by the Police in Paphos and Nicosia. During the operations, a total of 130 persons were checked, while members of the Police made nine arrests for the offence of illegal stay in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
As part of the operation conducted in Paphos, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., members of the Police conducted searches, pursuant to court warrants, in ten apartments of a building complex in Kato Paphos. During the investigations, 35 persons were identified and checked. Four of these persons were found to be staying illegally in Cyprus and were arrested for a flagrant offence.
In Nicosia, the operation took place in the city centre, from 6 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. The members of the Police, who participated in the operation, proceeded to check 95 persons, five of whom were found to be illegally in Cyprus and were arrested.
The nine arrested were detained, while procedures for their immediate repatriation were activated.
Members of the Aliens and Immigration Service (UNHCR), the YKAN, the MMAD and the Pafos and Nicosia Police Directorates took part in the operations.
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Police arrested a 32-year-old man on Sunday in Paphos to facilitate investigations into an ongoing case of illegal stay in the territory of the Republic and theft of products.
According to Paphos Assistant Police Director of Operations, Michalis Nicolaou, at 18:30 on Sunday afternoon the Police were informed from a supermarket in Paphos that a person allegedly stole products from the market and was intercepted by employees.
As it was found, this is a 32-year-old man, who, from further examinations, revealed that he had been staying illegally in the territory of the Republic since April 6, 2019, while in his possession were found various products allegedly stolen.
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A case of illegal possession of drugs for the purpose of supplying to another person is being investigated by the Police in Limassol, members of which proceeded to the arrest of a 25-year-old man, to facilitate investigations.
Specifically, shortly before 1pm yesterday, while members of the Limassol OPE were conducting checks in the area of Epichosi, they spotted an unknown man, who as soon as he noticed the police officers fled. The police followed him and managed to stop him for a check at a short distance.
As it was found, this is a 25-year-old man, in whose possession were found after a search and confiscated, 33 packages containing cannabis, with a total gross weight of 26 grams, 15 sachets, containing an unknown herbal substance and the amount of €120.
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A case of illegal possession of drugs for the purpose of supplying to another person is being investigated by the Police in Limassol, whose members proceeded to arrest a 21-year-old man to facilitate investigations. The 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody, with the YKAN (Limassol District Unit) investigating the case.
Specifically, at around 10.30 last night, members of the Limassol OPE stopped for inspection a car, which was being driven to an area in Agios Athanasios, Limassol, driven by a 25-year-old man and co-driver the 21-year-old. During the check, members of the Police found in the possession of the 21-year-old, in two nylon bags, a quantity of cannabis with a gross weight of approximately 52 grams, a precision scale with traces of cannabis and the amount of €290.
After the 21-year-old was arrested for flagrant offences, he was taken to the offices of the Limassol YKAN, where he confessed that he intended to sell part of the quantity of cannabis found in his possession. He also confessed that part of the money found in his possession was his income from drug trafficking.
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Pafos Press
One hundred and seventy-nine traffic complaints were registered during the last three days in Paphos, according to the Assistant Police Director of Paphos Operations Michalis Nikolaou, with most of them relating to driving at excessive speed.
Mr.Nikolaou told KYPE that of the 179 traffic complaints that arose in the last three days during the control of vehicles in various parts of the Paphos district, 7 related to driving under the influence of drugs, 18 to driving under the influence of alcohol, 36 persons were reported for exceeding the speed limit while 8 vehicles were impounded. Coordinated Police operations will continue at a later stage.
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Filenews
Moments of terror were experienced by three women in Larnaka when four robbers, wearing hoods, entered a house in the Faneromeni area around one in the morning.
The robbers were spotted by the wife of the owner of the house, as well as their two domestic helpers who were threatened with garden scissors.
Speaking in English, the attackers demanded money from the three women, isolated them and snatched their mobile phones and jewellery. They then forced the owner's wife to open the safe and managed to extract gold and watches, the value of which, according to information from the police, amounts to Є500,000 as well as a sum of money of Є4,000. The shocked woman reported the case to the police, who began home examinations in an attempt to identify the perpetrators.
According to the spokesman of the Larnaca Police, Spyros Chrysostomou, the examinations of the Larnaca ICF have found that the perpetrators achieved entry by breaking through a door at the back of the house. "The house will be examined by the Criminal Investigation Service of the Police Headquarters, while both the CCTV of the house and others in the adjacent area are being examined," he said.
It is noted that it is the home of a well-known land development entrepreneur, who has been active for years in Larnaca.
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An armed robbery occurred five minutes before midnight at a betting shop in the area of Linopetra in Limassol.
According to information, two hooded persons entered the agency and at gunpoint, forced the agency employee to hand over to them the amount of 900 euros from the cash register as well as the amount of 7 thousand. euros from the safe under the counter of the cashier and which were collected by the agency.
Members of the ICF of Limassol went to the scene where they conducted examinations.
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Five boilers with a total value of €3,000 and copper tubes of boiler installations, worth €5.000 were stolen from the roofs of two apartment buildings of a 39-year-old man in the area of Agios Ioannis in Limassol.
According to his complaint, last Thursday around 2:30 p.m., he received a complaint from his tenant that her apartment was not supplied with water. After carrying out an inspection, she first realised that both her apartment and his apartment were not supplied with water due to the fact that the rupinette water supply was closed. Subsequently, it was noticed that one of the water tanks fell to the ground on the west side of the building.
After a few minutes, the complainant realized that the water tank that had fallen to the ground was missing from its place and realized that the previous incidents involved theft.
He immediately went down to the ground floor of the apartment building where he spotted a vehicle departing from the place with the driver of the vehicle at the sight of the 39-year-old developing speed. The 39-year-old then searched for the vehicle in the area and after locating it, its driver abandoned it in an open area and fled on foot.
After police examinations, the perpetrator was identified and an arrest warrant was issued and is wanted.
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Drugs and prohibited items, such as mobile phones, are fraudulently transported from the Court premises to the Central Prison.
The substances and objects in question have been found to come into the possession of persons when they are transferred from the premises of the courts to those of the penitentiary. These are convicted or undertrial persons held in prisons, criminal prisoners, that is, who have pending cases in the courts.
As has been observed, in ways that have not been precisely defined, during the period of time they are outside the Prison for judicial proceedings, they have access to substances and objects with the complicity of third parties and manage to transfer them within the premises of the penitentiary.
It should be noted that these persons, after their transfer and until the commencement of the judicial proceedings concerning them, are detained in specially designed areas of the Courts.
There has been information about this phenomenon in the past and in some cases there have been limited reports in the press. However, the police force now recognizes that the problem exists and is trying to address the phenomenon.
Commander's command
It is an indicative instruction that, according to reliable information of "F", was sent last week by the Chief of Police, Stelios Papatheodorou, to all heads of competent services and departments of the Corps.
As our newspaper is aware, a senior officer of the Police Force, last Tuesday sent an explicit instruction on behalf of the leadership to the provincial police directors, the Department of Combating Crime, the Anti-Narcotics Agency and the Mechanized Immediate Action Unit, asking for strict controls to deal with the phenomenon.
The written instruction entitled "Checks of convicts or undertrials during their transfer from the Courts to the Prisons", refers to incidents observed concerning the detection of prohibited objects and substances in the possession of prisoners upon their return to Prison. It is clarified that these incidents were established after their transfer from the Courts.
A recommendation is then made in order to give appropriate instructions to the members of the Police to constantly supervise the detainees and to carry out strict checks and investigations. This written instruction from the Chief of Police has the appropriate tone, as it emphasizes the need for the members of the Force to faithfully comply with what is highlighted.
Mobile phones and drugs
The issue of the entry of drugs and mobile phones into prisons occupied the sphere of public debate in the days leading up to the resignation of the former deputy director of the penitentiary, Ioannis Kapnoullas. The latter, in the 24 hours preceding his resignation last Friday, faced (rightly or wrongly) parliamentary scrutiny and media revelations about negative phenomena in the penitentiary, which, of course, pre-existed.
The systems
However, for the time being, technology cannot de facto be an ally in the effort to eliminate negative phenomena in the penitentiary. The mobile phone deactivation system, promoted as a solution since 2012, has never worked satisfactorily and the process for installing new digital technology, although launched, is nevertheless placed at a later stage (until 2027).
In addition, the anti-drone shield that will be installed in critical infrastructure of the Republic, including the facilities of the Prisons, will not be put into operation at the predetermined point in time. As we were recently officially informed by the contracting authority, which is the Police, the contractor requested an extension of time for the implementation of the contract, due to the military operations in the Middle East. The implementation of the project will hopefully be achieved in 2025. It should be noted that reports indicate that prisoners in the Prisons are supplied with drugs by drones.
There is no test
It should be noted that drug use in prisons is taken for granted, although the extent of the problem is not known. It should be noted that in the context of the judicial proceedings for the murder (27/10/2022) of Turkish Cypriot prisoner Tansu Chidan, it was revealed that the Cyprus Police obtained evidence of the use of synthetic drugs by detainees. There was, in fact, a court conviction for drug use. In addition, last December (2023) a chief prison guard of the Central Prison was arrested by the YKAN for importing drugs into the premises of the penitentiary, through pieces of paper impregnated with a synthetic drug.
However, the magnitude of the problem has not been established by data. According to a report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Cyprus is one of the three countries in the Old Continent where drug use is not controlled among prisoners in prisons.
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The Jordanian military said on Sunday its members had killed five suspected drug traffickers and wounded four others as they tried to smuggle a large quantity of substances into Jordan from Syria.
"The operation allowed five smugglers to be killed, four others injured and large quantities of drugs seized," he said in a press release.
The development came the day after a meeting in Amman of the interior ministers of Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, after which it was announced that the four countries had agreed to jointly fight drug trafficking.
The Jordanian armed forces frequently announce operations against arms and drug traffickers, especially amphetamine, on the border with Syria.
Arab countries are seeking to strengthen security cooperation with Syria, which Western analysts say hasmorphed into a "narcostate" with captagon trafficking booming.
Transit route
The drug is mainly destined for Gulf states, meaning Jordan is part of the trafficking route.
The Hashemite kingdom says drug trafficking has become "more organized" on the Syrian-Jordanian border, guarded by armed groups equipped with drones, among other things.
ANA-MPA
