Filenews 26 May 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.
The result of the preventive policing operations was the arrest of two persons, for various offenses, including illegal possession of duty-free products and violence in the family.
During the night, 473 vehicles were stopped for inspection and 568 drivers and passengers were checked. At the same time, 42 inspections of premises were carried out, from which 3 complaints emerged.
During traffic checks carried out, 339 complaints were made about various traffic violations, of which 117 concern driving at excessive speed. A total of 56 alcohol tests were carried out during which two drivers were found positive. Three preliminary drug tests were also carried out during which one driver tested positive. Also, as part of the police examinations, 10 vehicles were detained.
Policing operations, for the prevention and suppression of crime, continue every day, with an enhanced police presence, targeted controls and immediate operational action, in order to protect citizens and ensure public order.
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Members of YKAN proceeded yesterday afternoon to arrest two other persons aged 20 and 26 to facilitate investigations, as part of the investigation of a case of locating a pistol and possession of narcotic substances, which was committed on 18/05/2026 in Nicosia.
Specifically, the 20-year-old was arrested, located at his home in Nicosia and arrested, yesterday afternoon, by virtue of a court warrant pending against him in connection with the case in question. As part of the examinations, a 26-year-old person was found near the 20-year-old's house.
He was stopped by the members of YKAN and during a search of his car, a quantity of cannabis with a total gross weight of 40 grams was found, while a sum of money of €1,245 was found in his possession. He was arrested for flagrante delicto.
The two arrested were taken into custody and are expected to appear before the Nicosia District Court this morning for their detention procedure. YKAN continues the examinations.
It is noted that the above case is related to the arrest of a 22-year-old man in Nicosia, on May 18. An arrest warrant was pending against the arrested person, in relation to an ongoing case involving the detection of narcotic substances (a quantity of cannabis and cannabis resin weighing 230 grams and 40 tablets of ecstasy).
Following written consent, a search was carried out at his home, in the presence of himself, as well as a 19-year-old, where in a bedroom the following were found and confiscated:
- Amount of cannabis weighing about 10 grams.
- 12 ecstasy tablets.
- A pistol.
- Two magazines.
- 15 cartridges of various calibres;
- 100 tablets containing anabolic substances.
- Two mobile phones.
The 22-year-old was re-arrested for the above offenses, while the members of YKAN also proceeded to arrest the 19-year-old.
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The Police arrested a second 40-year-old person yesterday, after testimony emerged against him that allegedly implicates him in a case of kidnapping and threats in the province of Morphou.
For the same case, the 24-year-old, who was in six-day detention, was brought before the Nicosia District Court yesterday, which renewed his detention order for another four days.
Specifically, last Friday afternoon (16/05), an unknown person entered the home of a 69-year-old woman in a village in the province of Nicosia, demanding that she give him a sum of money with threats. The 69-year-old, in a state of fear, gave him the sum of €200, and then he left the scene.
On the same day and with the passage of time, the man in question went again to the 69-year-old's house where, again in the form of threats, he forced her into his car and took her to a bank institution where she maintains a bank account. During their presence there, the suspect tried to withdraw money from the ATM of the banking institution in question using the 69-year-old's credit card, but without success, and then took the 69-year-old back to her home.
The 69-year-old filed a complaint with the Police on the same day, while testimony and consequently an arrest warrant against the 24-year-old were secured for the case.
He was arrested yesterday and brought before the Nicosia District Court today, which issued a detention order for him for a period of six days. The TAE of Morphou continues the examinations.
The TAE of Morphou continues the examinations.
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Around 2.40 in the morning today, information was received about a fire in a 35-year-old man's car, which was parked on the street in front of the apartment building where he lives in Nicosia.
Members of the Police and the Fire Service went to the scene and extinguished the fire. According to preliminary examinations, the fire, which completely destroyed the car, appears to have been set maliciously.
Further examinations will be carried out this morning, while the TAE of Nicosia continues the investigation.
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The Police yesterday arrested a 40-year-old man, who was wanted for a case of burglary and theft, which was committed in a supermarket in Nicosia, last December.
The burglary was committed on 20/12/2025, with the perpetrators extorting a sum of money. As part of the investigation of the case, testimony was obtained against the 40-year-old, on the basis of which an arrest warrant was issued against him, with which he was arrested.
The TAE of Nicosia continues the examinations.
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The retrial of the much-praised case of 15 kilograms of cocaine, for which the well-known indicted Giorgos Christodoulou-Zavrantonas is accused, is expected to take place at a rapid pace. This emerges from what the President of the Nicosia Criminal Court, Lefteris Panteli, said yesterday.
At yesterday's hearing, the decision of the three-member judiciary was announced at the request of the representative of the prosecuting Authority, lawyer of Republic A, Vassilis Bissas, in order for the accused to remain in custody until the trial.
This day is set for Zavrantonas to respond to the two charges he faces for the disputed quantity of drugs (possession and possession for the purpose of supply). The request was approved by the Permanent Criminal Court of Nicosia, on the basis of a verdict issued and read at yesterday's hearing.
After the announcement of this decision, Mr. Panteli referred to the special circumstances surrounding the case and stressed that the judiciary, which he heads, under the circumstances should retry it quickly. He announced, in essence, the scheduling of hearings and said that if necessary, the Criminal Court will continue the hearings even in the afternoon.
The conditions
Here we should remember that the sentence of Zavranonas (12/12/2022) to 22 years in prison was overturned by the Court of Appeal. The latter annulled the conviction on 11/5/2026 and ordered a retrial.
The case dates back to and arose in January 2019. The disputed amount of drugs was located in a premises in Lakatamia (16/1/2019) after an operation by YKAN.
For the case, Yiannis Andreou ("Maronas") and Aristos Kyprianou were sentenced six months later (July 2019) to 16 and 8 years in prison, respectively. However, Andreou named Zavradonas as the mastermind of the case in a new testimony and thus a case was registered against the latter, resulting in his conviction, which was overturned a few days ago. At the same time, "Maronas" was released from prison with a presidential pardon.
"Maronas" is the key
Under the circumstances, the key to the case is the testimony of "Maronas", on the basis of which Zavrantonas was convicted. After all, Giannis Andreou was the main prosecution witness in the case for the prosecution.
At the same time, the defense of Zavrantonas and especially the lawyer Christos Poutziouris repeatedly questioned Andreou's motives. It is indicative that Mr. Poutziouris in the previous hearing had raised the issue of exchanges received by "Maronas" to testify against his client, attributing the conviction of Zavranonas to foreign motives and not to real events, such as his claim.
He has indicatively mentioned that he has changed his version several times in what he testified before the prosecuting authorities, raising a question of credibility. The bottom line is that Giannis Andreou will have to testify again at the Criminal Court, with his testimony once again being judged as decisive for the outcome of the three-member judiciary.
The Matter of Grace
At last Thursday's hearing, Christos Poutziouris made a request that all the documents related to the granting of a presidential pardon to Giannis Andreou be forwarded to him by the prosecuting authority.
According to Zavrantonas' lawyer, Yiannis Andreou ("Maronas") after his conviction at the end of 2022 (16 years in prison) was released with a presidential pardon at the beginning of 2023 on the condition that he not return to Cyprus for a certain period of time. However, as Mr. Poutziouris claimed, the condition does not seem to have been met, since according to the positions of the defense, Maronas was suspected of throwing a grenade and shots at a businessman's premises.
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The investigations of the TAE Larnaca in relation to the case of the arrest of two Palestinians, 32 and 38 years old, who are suspected of terrorism, are going into the deep end. The Police estimate that they prevented hits in Cyprus, since the quantities of materials found in two houses in Governor's Beach and Kamares Larnaca are quite large.
The investigations are being carried out at several levels, with the aim on the one hand to determine whether the two Palestinians have accomplices and on the other hand to ascertain where the explosive materials were obtained from. These are chemicals, including ammonia nitrate, which may also come from the Cypriot market, a police source told "F".
All the items, which are too many, are classified and are expected to be sent for specialized tests, both to show the type of all the chemicals and to determine if there is another person's DNA in them.
The two suspects are under eight-day detention, which expires next Saturday. The 32-year-old, who is legally in the Republic of Cyprus, lived with his family (wife and child) in the apartment in Kamares, Larnaca, in which objects that can be used to manufacture explosives were found. The first large quantity was found in a house on the Governor's Coast last Thursday, which also appears to be linked to him. As for the 38-year-old, it seems that he resided illegally in Cyprus and is estimated to have succeeded in entering the territory of the Republic from the occupied territories. The two were under surveillance for days and were arrested after a coordinated operation last Thursday.
It is recalled that this is not the first time that the Cypriot Police have detected ammonium nitrate, which was intended for a terrorist attack. In May 2015, after a major operation in the area of Agioi Anargyroi in Larnaca, a 26-year-old man with Lebanese citizenship was arrested, in the basement of whose house 8.2 tons of ammonia nitrate were found. As it was established, he was a member of Hezbollah who intended to harm the interests of foreign states in Cyprus through terrorist attacks.
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The Police were investigating serious criminal offenses against him which related to illegal possession for the purpose of supplying drugs, possession of a firearm and illegal possession of explosives and asked him for DNA but he refused. A court order was then secured obliging him to give a sample of genetic material and later he was taken to court.
The Supreme Court, examining its appeal against the rejection of his request for the issuance of a certiorari decree annulling the decision of the Limassol Court, initially notes that the applicant was in legal detention for the investigation of the above serious criminal offenses, he was asked to provide buccal swabs or other genetic material. Although he initially gave written consent to provide buccal swabs, photographs and fingerprints, he then retracted it, refusing to give even though it was explained to him that if he is not accused of a crime in Court, then all photos, fingerprints, samples of buccal swab, will be destroyed immediately or handed over to him.
The Police, in order to secure the decree that would oblige him to give genetic material, had reported to a Court in Limassol that "due to the fact that the Police examinations have not yet been completed and the fact that genetic material of an unknown man has been found in the evidence of the case, the taking of genetic material from the 1st suspect is necessary to complete and solve the case in order to compare it with the genetic material found in evidence of the present case.'
His lawyer argued that the Court of First Instance did not examine the necessity of issuing the requested decree, a position with which the Supreme Court disagreed, noting that the lower Court considered the request justified on the basis of the witness material that had been put before it, testimony material that undoubtedly satisfied the condition of necessity and proportionality. In the present case, it is stated, the lower Court expressly recorded in its decision that it considered the request justified, in the light of the content of the request and the witness material supporting it. Following this finding, it dismissed the appeal against the decision not to issue the decree annulling the obligation to provide genetic material. For the Republic, the lawyers V. Bissas and E. Konstantinou appeared.
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The Larnaca Police are mobilizing for two criminal actions in Agios Theodoros, Larnaca, which are unknown if they are connected to each other.
In one case, the owners of betting agencies filed a complaint with the Police in the morning, after finding damage to their vehicles caused by gunshots. The agency is located in Agios Theodoros, Larnaca. Members of the TAE Larnaca rushed to the spot for examinations.
Meanwhile, at 4.40 this morning, information was received about a fire in a car parked in a field in Agios Theodoros, Larnaca. Members of the Police and EMAK went to the scene and extinguished the fire. During the examinations, it was found that the car is the property of a 28-year-old Greek.
This morning, further investigations and examinations were carried out at the scene where flammable material was found.
The Regional Police Station of Kofinos continues the examinations.
