KNews 1 February 2026
A 25-year-old man has been remanded in custody for four days following his arrest in Limassol in connection with a stolen motorcycle and a series of violent incidents, including assaults and threats involving a knife.
The Limassol District Court approved the detention on Monday morning to allow police to continue their investigation into multiple suspected offences, including motorcycle theft, assault, making threats, carrying a knife, and attacking a police officer.
According to police reports, the incident began on Sunday afternoon at approximately 4:00 p.m., when a motorcycle owner received information that his stolen motorcycle had been spotted on a street in Limassol. The owner went to the location and identified an unknown individual pushing the motorcycle, which had been reported stolen days earlier.
Before officers arrived, the owner and a friend reportedly approached the individual calmly. The situation quickly escalated, however, with the suspect allegedly turning aggressive and threatening them with a knife.
When police reached the scene, the suspect is said to have attacked the complainant’s friend. Officers immediately arrested him for an offence committed in the act. During efforts to restrain him, the man allegedly resisted and assaulted police officers, leading to a second arrest on additional charges.
A search of the suspect revealed a knife, which was confiscated. A court-issued arrest warrant followed, and the man was formally taken into custody.
Investigations into the case are ongoing and are being handled by the Limassol Criminal Investigation Department.
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Filenews
In the context of collecting, investigating and evaluating evidence, members of YKAN arrested two 21-year-olds and a 45-year-old woman yesterday, while a quantity of cannabis of more than one and a half kilograms was confiscated.
Specifically, in a search carried out pursuant to a court warrant in the car owned by the 45-year-old which was parked outside her home in Larnaca, two nylon packages containing cannabis with a total gross weight of one kilogram and approximately 107 grams were found.
This was followed by a search of the house where the 45-year-old and a 21-year-old live where packages containing cannabis with a gross weight of approximately 414 grams, a box containing cannabis with a gross weight of 14 grams, and a precision scale were found in various places.
Two nylon packages containing cannabis with a gross weight of about 60 grams, which the second 21-year-old was previously seen flying, were also found in a bin outside the home of the 45-year-old and the 21-year-old.
The above were arrested and taken into custody while YKAN continues the examinations.
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The Police had intensive controls and an enhanced presence in key points of the urban areas last night, as part of its targeted, preventive actions in all provinces. The aim is to prevent serious criminal acts, protect citizens and ensure public order.
Members of the Police identified and arrested six persons for various offenses and another five persons related to court fine warrants. Three persons were arrested in the Limassol district, two of them for the self-inflicted crime of carrying a knife and one for illegal possession of drugs. Two other persons were arrested in the province of Paphos. One person was arrested for the flagrante delicto offense of illegal possession of property, while a second person was arrested for the flagrante delicto offenses of forgery, circulation of a forged document and impersonation. Another person was arrested by members of the Road Accident Prevention Unit, for exceeding the speed limit on a highway, after he was found driving at a speed of 187 kilometers per hour. At the same time, during the actions, a sum of €1,290 was collected from uncollected warrants.
During the night, more than 790 vehicles were stopped for inspection, while more than 1000 persons in them were checked. At the same time, 41 inspections of premises were carried out, with the aim of preventing and suppressing delinquent behaviours. During the inspections of the premises, four complaints emerged for violations regarding their operating licenses.
From the traffic checks carried out, 366 complaints emerged concerning various traffic violations, including 36 for driving under the influence of alcohol. The total number of alcohol tests on vehicle drivers exceeded 430. At the same time, as part of the investigation of traffic offenses, 31 vehicles were detained.
These operations are part of a broad, continuous and strengthened preventive plan of the Police, with an increased police presence, targeted controls and immediate operational action in all provinces, with the aim of preventing crime and strengthening the sense of security of citizens.
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A reversal occurred in the Court of Appeal as the appeal of a foreigner was accepted, in which he challenged the decision of the competent authorities to characterize his marriage with a Bulgarian citizen as fictitious and to reject his application for the issuance of a residence card in the Republic of Cyprus as the divorced spouse of a European citizen.
The court of first instance, in its decision of March 31, 2025, had rejected the appeal concerning the decision, dated August 19, 2024, to declare his marriage as fictitious and to reject, on September 2, 2024, his application for the issuance of a residence card.
The Court of Appeal, examining the history of the case and the content of the administrative file, concluded that there was a violation of the res judicata of a judgment annulling a decision and a defective investigation of the essential elements of the case.
Marriage, arrest and the decree for deportation
The appellant married a Bulgarian citizen on 26 July 2018 and on 7 August 2018 he applied for a residence card as a family member of a citizen of the European Union. The application was approved on 29 January 2019 with effect until 29 January 2024.
On 16 November 2021, the residence permit was revoked, as it was found that he was not living with his wife. The appellant appealed to the Administrative Court, which by decision dated 30 June 2022 annulled the revocation decision.
In the meantime, he had been arrested on March 15, 2022 for illegally staying in the Republic and detention and deportation orders were issued, which were annulled by a decision of the Administrative Court on July 5, 2022.
At the same time, the Nicosia Family Court declared the dissolution of the marriage on December 6, 2021 due to a "strong breakdown", with the divorce becoming final on March 15, 2022.
After the annulment decisions, his details were removed from the stop-list, while the case was re-examined. On 6 February 2023, she submitted a new application for a residence card as the divorced spouse of a European citizen.
Then on July 18, 2024, the Advisory Committee on Marriages of Sham met and recommended that there is sufficient evidence to tend to demonstrate that the marriage was a marriage of convenience. This was followed by the adoption of the contested decisions.
The decision of the Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal held that, despite the different wording of the decisions, the administrative issue that had been decided in the appeal, i.e. the legality of the appellant's residence permit, constituted res judicata, which the Administration had to respect.
It was found that the Administration, during the review, relied again on the Marriage Authentication Form dated December 16, 2020, which had already been judged by the Administrative Court to be insufficiently investigated. This document was the main element on which the Advisory Committee reached the conclusion on the non-cohabitation and fictitious nature of the marriage.
The Court of Appeal also found that the fact that a divorce had already been issued by the Family Court due to a strong breakdown was not sufficiently taken into account, while the administrative file incorrectly recorded a period of "illegal stay", despite the revival of the residence permit after the annulment decision.
In the end, the Court of Appeal ruled that there was a violation of res judicata and a defective investigation of the essential elements of the case. As a result, the Appeal was upheld, the first instance decision was set aside and court costs amounting to €3,500 plus VAT were awarded in favour of the appellant.
