Pafos Live 21 April 2026
The presence and action of the Police last night was intense, throughout Cyprus, with organized patrols in key points of urban areas, with the aim of preventing serious criminal acts, ensuring public order and increasing the sense of security of the public.
As a result of the preventive policing operations, four (4) persons were arrested, for offenses such as failure to appear in Court, illegal stay in the Republic (2) and driving under the influence of alcohol (125mg instead of 22μg).
As part of these operations, during the night, 603 drivers and passengers were stopped and checked.
At the same time, 34 inspections of premises were carried out, with the aim of dealing with phenomena of delinquency, during which three (3) complaints were recorded.
During traffic checks carried out, 265 complaints were made, concerning various traffic violations, while 17 investigated cases of traffic violations also emerged.
Of the complaints made, 74 driver complaints for exceeding the speed limit and seven (7) for driving under the influence of alcohol stand out.
As part of the police examinations, 18 vehicles were detained.
Coordinated policing operations, for the prevention and suppression of crime, continue daily, with an increased/enhanced police presence, targeted controls and immediate operational action, with the aim of increasing the sense of security of citizens/protecting citizens and ensuring public order.
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The Police arrested a 34-year-old resident of the province of Famagusta yesterday, as part of examinations related to the offenses of conspiracy to commit a felony, causing grievous bodily harm and causing actual bodily harm.
Specifically, around 8.40 last night, two persons aged 18 and 30 reported to the Police that, while they were outside their home in the province of Famagusta, they were attacked by a number of people, resulting in their injuries. Members of the Police went to the scene where they located the two complainants and conducted examinations.
The two injured visited the Famagusta General Hospital where the 18-year-old was given first aid and discharged, while the 30-year-old was taken to the Nicosia General Hospital where he is being treated. His condition is considered serious, but out of danger, since he has a subdural hematoma and a displacement of the midline of the head.
During the investigation of the case, testimony emerged against the 34-year-old who was arrested around 9 last night and taken into custody.
The 34-year-old was brought before the Famagusta District Court today, which issued an eight-day detention order.
The TAE of Famagusta continues the exams.
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The objection of the foreign mother's lawyers, requesting that she remain free on parole until the trial of the case before the Limassol Permanent Criminal Court, was rejected. The case concerns the administration of sedative pills by herself to her 7-year-old child.
The accused mother faces a single offense, that of attempted murder of her child, which was committed on February 10, 2026. The 41-year-old, after being discharged from the hospital, was taken to the Athalassa Hospital for treatment and, after receiving the necessary medication, she was discharged with the doctors judging that she can attend the court proceedings.
The referral of the case to trial before the Criminal Court took place last Friday, and the representative of the Prosecuting Authority submitted a request for the accused to remain on trial until the trial, based on the risk of evasion of justice, as the accused has no ties to the Republic of Cyprus. For their part, the lawyers of the accused raised an objection to her detention and recommended the imposition of restrictive conditions to ensure her presence at the trial. The judge, after hearing both sides, reserved the decision for yesterday.
The events surrounding the shocking case, which was brought to light by Filenews, have to do with the administration of sedative pills to the 7-year-old son of the accused by herself, who also consumed several pills before being located by her husband in their home.
The Court rejected the request and ordered the detention of the accused until mid-May, when the hearing before the Criminal Court was set. As noted in his decision, the offense faced by the accused is very serious and in case of conviction, a life sentence is provided. Witnesses in the case are the husband of the accused, treating doctors, but also their 7-year-old son.
It is recalled that the father, returning home on the night of February 10, found his wife and their child in the latter's bedroom unconscious.
Initially, the father thought that the child was sleeping, and when he saw that the 41-year-old was not well, he took her to a private hospital. He then went home, where he tried to wake up the 7-year-old, but he was in the same situation as his mother. As the father stated in his testimony, he found three empty blister packs in a basket of the house, which were missing the sedative pills.
The child in his videotaped testimony described what happened on the day in question, saying that he went to the hospital because he almost poisoned himself with expired pills, which his mother did not know had expired and she thought they would help him. The child stated that he was not sick, he did not want to take them, but the mother gave them to him and he just drank them with water. At first he drank one and then others, claiming that he does not know how many pills there were. He doesn't remember what his mother told him when she gave him the pills, but all he remembers is that he was in bed trying to sleep, and then his mother came and gave him the pills, telling him that she also took them after having a headache.
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The Police are investigating a new case of internet fraud and extortion of a large amount of money. The perpetrators, by sending a false message via e-mail, managed to extort a sum of money amounting to more than €65,000.
The case was reported yesterday to the TAE Limassol, by a representative of a company in Limassol. According to the complaint, on March 02, the company received an email from a partner company, stating that invoices for a total amount of €65,709 would have to be paid.
Subsequently, the complaining company received a new email, requesting that the payment be made by transfer to a new bank account, the details of which were mentioned in the message. Following the new instructions, the complaining company proceeded to repay the money by transfer to the new bank account on March 05.
However, on March 19, the complaining company received a new message, for payment of an additional invoice and after it became clear that the message had been sent by fraudsters, a further check was carried out and it was found that the perpetrators intervened and gained access to the online email communication of the two companies. It was also found that the previous message with the details of a new bank account had also been sent by the perpetrators and that the transfer of €65,709 that had been processed was made to a bank account of the perpetrators.
The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the TAE Limassol is investigating the case.
On the occasion of this new fraud case, the Police recommends that, in cases where such messages are received, for the repayment of sums of money, citizens carry out a check to verify the messages. Company owners or managers are encouraged to inform their company's staff about this form of fraud and to implement procedures to verify the payment requests they receive.
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Property of the former president of the Cyprus Football Federation, Giorgos Koumas, corresponding to €3.4 million. has been bound by a court order.
According to cross-checked information from filenews, the frozen property concerns real estate and sums of money in bank accounts within Cyprus.
The request for the freezing of assets against Mr. Koumas was made by the Cyprus Police through the Unit for Combating Cover-up Offences (MOKAS) and was approved by the District Court.
The relevant decree was issued last Friday 17/4. In the event of a conviction of the former top official of the KOP, then this frozen property will be confiscated for the benefit of the state.
Giorgos Koumas is accused before the Nicosia District Court in relation to the properties he possessed and which we pointed out through documents from September 2018.
The indictment includes a total of 25 charges, the previously powerful factor is accused not only of the incompatibility that has been repeatedly raised in a series of our publications over the last eight years, but also of the money he received from these properties.
More specifically, Mr. Koumas faces 23 charges related to his properties and the incompatibility of which he is accused, but also two charges related to money laundering, namely the amount of €6,562,447.
The charges concern the offices he held in the KOP and the fact that he was a shareholder of two companies, TRIPLE AAA PRODUCTIONS LIMITED and TRIPLE AAA VILLAGE STUDIOS LTD.
Having these two qualities, Mr. Koumas simultaneously collaborated with various agencies for the production of television games, broadcasts and related services (livestreaming, etc.). This is exactly where the incompatibility arose, which prohibits reaping financial benefits from sports and maintaining the status of a sports agent.
The incompatibility charges include contracts from 2014 to 2025.
The last two categories concern money laundering for the total amount of €6,562,447. They concern the profits made by his two co-accused companies - TRIPLE AAA PRODUCTIONS and TRIPLE AAA VILLAGE - all these years. The former had revenues of €4,994,698 and the latter €1,567,749.
It is worth noting that a total of 33 witnesses will be called to testify.
Mr. Koumas appeared as a defendant before the District Judge, Marios Karapatakis, on February 26, while on May 6 he will respond to the charges he faces.
He was appointed to sign a personal guarantee for the amount of €100,000 and at the same time to guarantee a third party. These conditions were imposed to ensure his presence at the trial, since, as the representative of the prosecuting authority, senior lawyer of the Republic, Anna Mattheou, had mentioned, Mr. Koumas often travels abroad for business reasons.
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The Supreme Court of Cyprus unanimously rejected the appeal of a contractor company and upheld the first-instance decision in favour of four former concrete mixer drivers, who had been fired in 2011 on the grounds of redundancy.
The case concerned four employees who claimed compensation for unjustified dismissal, arguing that the company's claim of job cuts did not correspond to the facts.
In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the company did not prove the existence of real conditions of redundancy, while it is pointed out that shortly before the layoffs, new hires had been made in similar duties.
As reported, the claim of modernization and reduction of work was not sufficiently substantiated. At the same time, the Court underlined that the burden of proof of redundancy lies solely with the employer and that a general invocation of economic contraction without specific evidence is not sufficient.
Based on these data, the appeal was completely rejected, leading to a final vindication of the employees.
It is recalled that the Court of First Instance, after finding that the dismissals did not take place under real conditions of redundancy, had proceeded to determine compensation for each of the four employees, applying the relevant provisions of labour law.
The compensations were determined individually, based on the employment data of each driver, while the relevant decisions were issued separately for each one.
With the decision of the Supreme Court, the awarded damages remain in full force, together with the award of legal costs in favour of the four employees.
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Cy Mail
The owner of a block of flats which collapsed, killing 96 people inside, and who then attempted to flee to Cyprus to start a new life in the hours after the building’s collapse, has had his prison sentence reduced from an initial 865 years down to 22 and a half years, on appeal.
Hasan Alpargun owned the eponymous Alpargun apartment building in the southeastern Turkish city of Adana, which collapsed on February 6, 2023, in the aftermath of the two devastating earthquakes which hit the region on that day.
However, Adana is located more than 180 kilometres away from the first earthquake’s epicentre and more than 210km away from the second earthquake’s epicentre, with only 11 apartment buildings in the city, which is home to over 1.8 million people, collapsing on February 6, 2023.
Following the building’s collapse, an arrest warrant was issued in Alpargun’s name, but it was quickly determined that he had taken a flight from Adana to northern Cyprus’ Ercan (Tymbou) airport on the day of the earthquakes.
According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, Alpargun then tried to transfer $990,000, €890,000, and 500,000TL from a bank account in Turkey to a bank account in the north, before then attempting to buy an apartment in northern Nicosia.
However, the Turkish police quickly located him, and he surrendered himself to the Turkish Cypriot police shortly afterwards, before being returned to Adana and arrested on February 13, 2023.
He had initially been handed 62 concurrent life sentences – a total of 865 years in prison – for causing the death of more than one person with possible intent by Adana’s 12th high criminal court in September last year, but Adana’s provincial court of justice overturned the verdict and returned the case to the 12th high criminal court.
That court had initially held firm, but following an appeal, his conviction for causing death by probable intent was overturned, and as such, he will serve a considerably reduced sentence.
Alpargun’s case is one of numerous similar cases which have been examined by Turkey’s judiciary in the three years since the earthquakes, with one of the most high-profile of the cases having come about regarding the collapse of the Isias hotel in the city of Adiyaman.
The Isias hotel had housed the Famagusta Turk Maarif Koleji middle school volleyball team on the night of the first earthquake, and when it collapsed, 72 people, including 35 Cypriots – of whom 24 were children – were killed.
In that case, too, the families of the Cypriot children had sought for the building’s owner and numerous other linked individuals, including Adiyaman’s former deputy mayor Osman Bulut, to be convicted of causing death by probably intent.
However, thus far, courts have been unwilling to acquiesce, with the most recent ruling in January having seen Bulut and five other former public officials spared jail.
Adiyaman’s first high criminal court ruled that it would not be possible to convict the defendants for causing death by probable intent “because they hoped that the foreseeable outcome would not occur or relied on chance”.
