Pafos Live 26 April 2025
On 19/4/2025, a 48-year-old Greek Cypriot presented himself at the Customs of Larnaca Airport accompanied by members of the Police, after a search of his home on the basis of a court warrant, where significant quantities of tobacco products were found.
Officials of the Customs Department proceeded to count and confiscate 29 boxes of 200 cigarettes each, 6 boxes of 200 heated cigarettes and 20 packs of a total quantity of 975 grams of tobacco for a rolled cigarette, which did not bear the marking for the harmfulness of smoking in Greek and Turkish, nor the security feature and the unique traceability code, indications that they were duty-free. The suspect was arrested for flagrant offences and was later released, after his proposal for an out-of-court settlement of the offences with the payment of the sum of €2,800 was accepted. The tobacco products were abandoned by the defendant in order to follow the process of their destruction.
On 22/4/2025, after evaluating information, officials of the Customs Department detained a 43-year-old Greek Cypriot for inspection, who arrived from Basel, Switzerland. During the inspection that followed, 2 luxury watches with a total value of €104,246 were found, which had not been declared by the passenger for the payment of the corresponding duties and taxes.
These watches were confiscated and later handed over to the passenger, after a proposal for an out-of-court settlement of the case was accepted with the payment of an amount of €7,620. The corresponding duties and taxes were also paid, with a total value of €19,809 as well as a financial burden on the debt of €1,981.
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A quantity of cannabis weighing more than 50 kilograms was found in the car of a 41-year-old, who is wanted by the Police. The car was confiscated yesterday by members of the YKAN, after a pursuit of the 41-year-old, who, however, managed to escape on foot.
After an information assessment and a coordinated operation by the Police Department, the 41-year-old was located around 3 p.m. yesterday driving a car on a Limassol road. The police signalled him to stop for a check, but he developed speed and fled. He was pursued by members of the Police.
In the 41-year-old's attempt to escape, the vehicle he was driving collided with three police vehicles and was immobilized. Subsequently, the suspect fled running, pursued by the members of the YKAN. However, he managed to escape by taking advantage of the inaccessibility of the area.
It should be noted that during his pursuit, the members of the Police, in their attempt to stop him, made use of their service weapons.
The vehicle driven by the 41-year-old was picked up by the police, sealed and transferred to the Limassol Police Department. From examinations carried out on the vehicle's data, it was found that it had been reported to the Police as stolen.
A search also followed at the home of the 41-year-old, where a quantity of cannabis, with a gross weight of 20 grams, was found and confiscated.
Early in the afternoon today, a search was carried out on the car, inside which a total of 41 packages, containing cannabis, with a total gross weight of 50 kg and 525 grams, were found and confiscated.
A court arrest warrant was issued against the 41-year-old and he is wanted.
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Filenews
The Police were put on alert after information was received in the early hours of Friday, around 05:05, that in the area of Agios Spyridon in Limassol, the owner of a house spotted an unknown woman inside his house.
Members of the Limassol ADE immediately went to the spot, where they met the 52-year-old owner. As he reported to the police, around 04:50, while he was sleeping on the upper floor of the residence, he heard a noise from the lower floor and got up to see what was happening. Then he located an unknown woman inside the house and alerted the Police.
Upon the arrival of the members of the force, the complainant pointed to the suspect, who, as was established by the control of her data, is a 36-year-old foreigner. The owner stated that, so far, no item appears to have been stolen from the residence.
From the on-site examinations of the scene, it was found that the entrance to the residence was made through a side aluminium window, which, although closed, was not secured.
The 36-year-old was taken to the offices of the Limassol TAE, where she was identified by members of the TAE as the person recorded in videos from security cameras, obtained as part of the examinations for recent cases of burglaries and thefts in the same area, which were committed on April 19 and March 27, 2025.
In a physical search carried out on the 36-year-old, an amount of money of €495 was found in her possession, as well as various items of jewellery and valuables, for which she did not give satisfactory explanations regarding their legal possession. She was arrested for the flagrant offense of illegal possession of property and then for a total of three cases of burglary and theft.
The suspect was brought before the Limassol District Court, which issued a seven-day detention order against her, until May 2, 2025.
The Limassol TAE continues its examinations.
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Half an hour after midnight today, the Police received information about a clash on a specific street in Limassol.
Members of the Force went to the place where they identified six persons, all foreign students, who are legally residing in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
According to their claim, while they were in their house on this street, a number of people who had their faces covered with hoods and held sharp objects, allegedly caused malicious damage to three windows of their house as well as to its main entrance, while immediately afterwards they fled.
There were no injuries from the whole incident, while the Agios Ioannis Police Station continues the examinations.
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The Police arrested two men in Limassol late yesterday afternoon, as one was illegally in Cyprus, while the other was in possession of an axe.
According to the Police, the two foreign men were spotted by members of the cycling police moving suspiciously in the area of Epifilli. They were checked and it was found that a 33-year-old man from Syria was in possession of an axe and was arrested. The other, aged 34 from Egypt, was also arrested, as it was found that he was illegally in Cyprus.
The arrested were taken to the Limassol Police Department, where they were detained.
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The 36-year-old defendant was released on Friday (25/4) by the Limassol District Court, who was arrested for the case of weapons and drugs that were found at noon on Holy Tuesday, following an operation by the Limassol Police Department in Episkopi. On the contrary, his 27-year-old foreign employee was taken to the Central Prison, where he will remain under trial until the start of the trial in the Assize Court.
The pre-trial detention of the two men ended yesterday, with the members of the YKAN bringing them before the Court, requesting that the case be referred to the Limassol Assize Court and that the two be detained until the trial. The defense lawyers of the 36-year-old, Yiannis Polychronis and Evanthia Constantinou, objected to his detention, requesting that he be released under restrictive conditions. They argued that their client maintains strong ties with the Republic, dispelling the risk of evasion.
The Court reserved the decision for today and finally approved that the 36-year-old be released under restrictive conditions, imposing a guarantee of €300,000 with a creditable guarantor, to sign daily at a Limassol Police Station, to hand over his travel documents and his details will be registered in the list of persons who are prohibited from leaving the Republic of Cyprus. The case was referred for trial to the Permanent Court of Assize and set for the beginning of June.
It is recalled that the two defendants were arrested at noon on Holy Tuesday, after a coordinated operation by the YKAN in Episkopi. According to what was raised during the pre-trial detention proceedings of the two last week, the 27-year-old Indian named his employer, claiming that he was acting on the orders of the 36-year-old. The operation was set up following information that the 36-year-old was trafficking cannabis and cocaine, which he had hidden in a tank in the fenced area of his business.
The members of the YKAN located the 36-year-old together with the 27-year-old hiding a bag under a bridge. Investigations followed, during which cannabis weighing a total of half a kilo, a firearm, cartridges and explosives were found, both at the hiding point and in the fenced area of the 36-year-old accused's business.
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Upon completion of the investigations and the examination of the visual material handed over to the Police by the community authority, the Police proceeded to the arrest of the 52-year-old man who allegedly sexually abused a five-year-old girl in a village of Paphos on Easter Monday.
This is a 52-year-old man who was brought today before the Paphos District Court, which issued a six-day detention order against him. As reported to the court by the Police spokesman, the suspect denies any connection with sexual abuse of the young child, claiming that he simply gave her a chocolate as a gift, at the same time urging her to go home and not to move only among the crowds that prevailed during the period in question due to the Easter events that took place in the community square.
The Police, however, are investigating a case of sexual abuse of the five-year-old girl, following complaints from residents of the community who were eyewitnesses, as well as the examination of material from the closed circuit installed by the Community Council in the central square of the community in question.
The incident allegedly took place on the afternoon of Easter Monday in the central square of the community where the Easter games organized by the community authority were held. Patrons of the area reported to the Police that they noticed a man initially offering a chocolate to a five-year-old girl, then proceeding to gesture to the girl that constitute sexual abuse.
The five-year-old child belongs to a large family of foreigners who live in the area, while the alleged perpetrator, according to reports made to the Police, may have been under the influence of alcohol.
After the complaints, a team of the Paphos Police rushed to the community and received from the community authority and visual material from the circuit that controls the square, while also received eyewitness testimonies about the allegations of sexual abuse.
The case was then forwarded to the competent unit of the Police Headquarters for similar cases, whose officers went to the community the next day to begin the investigations for the complaint.
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Shortly after the shock caused in Paphos by the news of the arrest of a resident of a community in the province for the sexual abuse of a five-year-old girl, another case of sexual abuse is made public in Paphos.
This time, it concerns a tourist from Britain who is being referred to trial in the Assize Court for the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl during his stay in a hotel in Paphos. The girl was staying at the same time as her family in the same hotel.
The Briton was arrested after a complaint by the minor's relatives of sexual abuse of their child at the hotel where they were staying for vacation. After his arrest and the completion of the investigations, the foreigner was referred today by the Paphos court to a direct trial before the Assize Court that will meet in Paphos.
