Filenews 6 March 2025
According to a complaint filed yesterday with the Pafos Police by officers of a state department, a 41-year-old civil servant working in that department damaged the premises and attacked his supervisor.
The reason for the incident, according to the Police, is the fact that the employee was told yesterday the new duties he will perform, after his long absence for health reasons. Refusing to accept these new duties, the 41-year-old attacked his supervisor and damaged government property inside the office.
The incident was reported to the police, whose members went to the scene and placed the 41-year-old under surveillance pending the issuance of an arrest warrant. A case of malicious damage, alarm, disturbing the peace and joint attack is being considered against him.
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With a dummy pistol and hitting him on the head, the 29-year-old suspect managed to rob a 32-year-old man from Vietnam, grabbing the bag with €100,000 in cash, in order to buy cryptocurrencies, in broad daylight, December 24, 2024, in the presence of the victim's mother. The facts of the robbery as well as the allegations given by the 29-year-old suspect, who was arrested last night (4/3), are reminiscent of a Netflix series script. One person is charged in the case, who has already been brought to trial before the Limassol Assize Court.
The 29-year-old suspect, holder of a Swedish passport, was brought before the Court today for a detention order for a period of 8 days. The suspect presented himself without a lawyer and the Court approved the request of ICF investigators. He is being investigated for offences of conspiracy, robbery and grievous bodily harm.
The 29-year-old's allegations are under investigation
After his arrest, the suspect made several allegations, which will be thoroughly investigated, as he implicates in the case people who threatened him with debts, even suggesting that he commit murder to pay off.
According to Filenews, the 29-year-old claimed that he had borrowed the sum of €10,000 from four people, of whom he knows only one, while the other two were siblings. He said they were demanding repayment of €12,000 before the end of 2024. He was unable to pay them and then they started threatening to hurt him and his family. He claimed that he was offered to commit murder of a specific person in order to pay off his debt.
He said he refused, and then threats intensified, going so far as to urge him to find money to exchange for cryptocurrency. Then, according to the 29-year-old, he decided to extort money from the complainant, whom he had met through a Facebook application and with whom he had exchanged money in the past.
The meeting and the robbery
After informing the persons threatening him of his intention, he arranged a meeting with the complainant on 24/12/2024. Before the appointment, he met with his accomplice and together they went to the place where the robbery was committed. On the way, he said, he pointed a pistol and threatened the accomplice that if he tried to leave, he would kill him, so he had to obey his instructions.
During the meeting with the complainant, the 29-year-old suspect entered his vehicle while his accomplice sat in the back seats, next to the victim's mother. When the victim showed him the €100,000 bag, the accomplice, allegedly the 29-year-old, began hitting him on the head with the pistol, while he took the bag with the money.
The suspect managed to escape, but not his accomplice, who was arrested. He claimed he left €20,000 in €50 notes in a bush, while he kept the rest. According to him, the people who threatened him took him to Paphos, where he handed them €60,000. On the same day, he was transferred to the area of Morfou, where he crossed into the occupied areas.
He tried to flee to Turkey
The suspect reportedly attempted to reach Turkey by sea by boat, but was tracked down by illegal authorities and detained. In addition, he claimed that while he was in the occupied areas, he contacted a person, asking him to go to the place where he had hidden the money in the bush.
Another 17 statements are expected to be taken in the case, while analyses of telecommunications and internet applications used by the suspect will be carried out. At the same time, investigations will be carried out to identify and locate the people who, according to the 29-year-old, threatened him.
As for the 32-year-old defendant, he has already been brought to trial before the Limassol Assize Court and is under trial in the Central Prison. Under questioning, the 32-year-old claimed that he met the suspect for the first time on 23/12/24 at a kiosk in the Germasogeia area, where the latter asked him for help in order to accompany him to a meeting with someone who had stolen money from him in the past and would return it to him.
The defendant claimed that it was the 29-year-old Swede who pulled out a pistol from his bag, with which he began hitting him.
It is noted that, following the complaint of the complainant to the ICF of Limassol, investigators conducted searches at the scene of the robbery, locating the empty bag, as well as a toy-replica pistol. The victim and the 29-year-old suspect knew each other, as they had previously traded cryptocurrency.
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Pafos Live
The case with the 41-year-old was registered in the Paphos court at the government office. The court set March 26 for the start of the hearing.
An order was also issued against the employee prohibiting him from approaching his complaining superior.
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Filenews
The Ministry of Health has found illegality in relation to the circumstances surrounding the case of a same-sex couple from Britain, who allegedly had twin boys through a clinic based in Limassol.
As the Minister of Health, Michalis Damianos, told "F", yesterday afternoon an official complaint was made to the Police in relation to this medical center. He explained that the Ministry has never licensed the clinic in question.
He added that what they advertise is illegal under current law, since it does not allow surrogacy for same-sex couples. He added that the factors in question make any relevant advertising illegal.
Mr. Damianos also clarified that since Monday officials of the Ministry have carried out an on-site inspection and found that at the address in Limassol (near the public garden) where the said center advertises that it is based, there is no premises.
Moreover, the Ministry of Interior conducted an investigation yesterday and found that no civil certificate for the birth of twin boys has been declared to the Limassol district administration.
As "F" is aware, the Cyprus Police also dealt with the matter yesterday morning (before a complaint was filed by the Ministry of Health). Now, the latter will begin investigating the case.
The case that aired in the past 24 hours even in the American media concerns a same-sex couple from St Albans, UK, 33-year-old Damian and 36-year-old Pasan Fernando, who spent $107,000 to have twins through surrogacy in Cyprus. Their twin boys, River and Laiko, were born on January 3, 2025 on our island. However, the couple say there have been delays in the process of issuing passports to the children, leaving them unable to return home.
Since yesterday, "F" has raised legal issues, although the claim in the relevant reports was that the same-sex couple got advice from a lawyer about trying to have children.
We had pointed out that the World Center Of Baby, which is presented to provide solutions to couples who want to have children, states on its website that it moved its headquarters from Ukraine to Limassol in 2023.
Update - Cyprus Mail
After a delay of two months due to UK passport issues, the British fathers left Cyprus on Thursday with their surrogate-born twins who were born in the north.
Pasan and Damian Fernando were stuck in Cyprus with their newborn sons, River and Liko as the British passport office delayed providing passports for the children.
The couple had come to Cyprus in early January when their chosen surrogate gave birth to their children in the north, where the insemination had also taken place.
But apart from the delay, the issue has raised a host of legal issues about surrogacy in general and the relations between the north and the Republic.
The World Centre of Baby (WCoB), an originally Ukrainian surrogacy agency that claims to be based in Limassol but actually provides their services at a clinic in the north, helped a British couple to finally achieve parenthood after a six-year wait.
The agency, which promotes its services with the slogan “Every person deserves to be a parent,” arranged the surrogacy with a woman from Kazakhstan and an egg donor from Bulgaria.
After the couple’s story gained international attention across news outlets in Cyprus, the UK and the United States, questions arose about the legality of WCoB, as the law in the Republic does not permit same-sex couples to become parents through surrogacy. In addition, an agency in the Republic cannot legally be advertising surrogacy services in northern Cyprus.
The couple told the Cyprus Mail it had sought extensive legal advice to ensure the process was conducted correctly, prioritising the safety of their children and the surrogate. While they acknowledged the experience was costly, they described it as positive overall.
However, they expressed sadness that the focus had shifted to a debate over surrogacy laws rather than the broader issue of queer parenthood. Their intent, they emphasised, was not to spark criticism against same-sex couples but to highlight that everyone should have the right to become parents.
According to reports in the local media, Health Minister Michalis Damianos said that an official complaint regarding WCoB had been filed with the police in the context of the case. He clarified that the agency had never been licensed by the ministry and that its advertised services were illegal under current legislation, which does not permit surrogacy for same-sex couples in the Republic. As a result, any related advertising would also be considered unlawful.
A legal expert clarified that since the insemination took place in the north, the laws of the Republic of Cyprus would not apply. However, this raises further questions, as the agency in question is based in Limassol, creating a discrepancy between its registered location and the procedures carried out in the north.
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A Greek Cypriot and his six illegal employees were arrested this morning in Ormidia at a potato packing plant, following a joint operation by the Police of the Infant Bases and the Republic of Cyprus, in an effort to combat modern slavery, immigration and illegal employment.
Six of the charges relate to illegal residence and illegal work at the packing house, and the employer faces charges of illegal employment.
The workers, who were from Congo and Cameroon, will now be handed over to the Aliens and Immigration Service of the RoC Police for deportation.
A total of four BB police officers and seven customs officers participated and were supported by eight other members of the Department of Customs and Immigration, the Labour and Social Insurance Office of the RoC.
Speaking earlier this morning after the operation, BB Senior Lieutenant Phanos Christodoulou said: "It was an extremely successful operation in cooperation with our colleagues from the RoC Police and the BB Customs and Immigration Department and highlighted once again the close cooperation and team effort that exists.
"We take this type of crime very seriously and will continue to carry out operations of this kind in the future."
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A malicious act is responsible for the fire that broke out at dawn in the car of a 26-year-old Greek Cypriot in the refugee settlement of Tsiakkilero in Larnaka.
This was demonstrated by the investigations of the ICF of Larnaka, which has secured testimonies that it was arson. The fire was extinguished by two fire brigade vehicles.
The fire completely destroyed the 26-year-old's vehicle, while damage was caused to the rear of another owner's vehicle, which was parked nearby.
Investigators in the case are looking into the motives of the perpetrators as well as additional testimonies from CCTV in the area.
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Arson was also the cause of the fire that caused extensive damage to a café in the EAC settlement in Dhekelia, owned by a 48-year-old man. According to information from the Police, flammable material was found at the scene, which indicates a malicious act.
Various documents were received from the site, which will be sent for scientific examinations, while CCTV images are also under the microscope in an attempt to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators.
