Shortly before the implementation of a terrorist attack allegedly planned on behalf of Hamas, the three accused Palestinians in the terrorism case, aged 33, 38 and 54, were arrested in Larnaca.
Testimonies obtained by the authorities in Cyprus and Greece state that the 33-year-old and the 38-year-old in the rented mansion on Governor's Beach made the final preparatory actions before the bomb attack targeting Israeli interests on our island.
In fact, in the mansion in question, in addition to the 33-year-old and the 38-year-old physicist and mathematician nicknamed "cook", an alleged expert in bomb making, a German citizen was also found at the same time.
The aforementioned German passport holder had also handed over a sum of money to the 33-year-old who lived permanently with his family in Cyprus. The latter, according to information from the authorities, was going to leave our island after the explosion.
The attack was planned for seven months, always based on the testimonies that were put before the Cyprus Police and the Greek authorities.
Confessions and testimonies
All of the above emerge from a large number of testimonies received from the authorities, but also from the confessions of the 33-year-old who lived in Cyprus, as well as the 37-year-old who was arrested in Crete on June 6.
It should be noted here that the indictment registered the day before yesterday against the three persons who were arrested in Cyprus in the last ten days of May includes a long list of witnesses, dozens of people. At least, from the evidence put before us, more than 40 people will be prosecution witnesses in the case.
The 41-year-old "mastermind"
The four arrested (three in Cyprus and one in Greece) allegedly received instructions from a 41-year-old man who lives in Malaysia and is a recognized Hamas member.
In fact, from what the 33-year-old who lived in Larnaca and the 37-year-old, who was arrested in Crete, respectively, reported to investigators in Cyprus and Greece, it appears that the person in question was the "operator" of the network.
The 41-year-old, whose name is known to intelligence services, is said to have been the "mastermind" behind planning a bomb attack not only in Cyprus, but in at least six other countries. These are Greece, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar.
Funded by
It is impressive that during the investigation of the case, evidence and testimonies emerged about the movement of large sums. In other words, the network in question, which had the 41-year-old as its "operator", had funds at his disposal that gave him the opportunity to make arrangements to implement his goals:
>> One of the testimonies has a person of German origin who gave an amount to the 33-year-old arrested, during their presence at the mansion in Governor's Coast.
>> In another case, the 33-year-old, according to his admission, travelled abroad four times to meet the 41-year-old "mastermind" of the network and in fact the latter gave him large sums, while he was ready to pay him a monthly amount on a fixed basis.
>> Besides, according to the testimony of the 37-year-old arrested in Crete, in the summer of 2025, during his training by the 38-year-old "cook" in the manufacture of explosives, the latter gave him the amount of 10.000 dollars.
The role of the 54-year-old
Based on the indictment of the case registered the day before yesterday by the Larnaca District Court, the role that the Cypriot authorities believe the 54-year-old had was also clarified. This is the person who has been in Cyprus since the 80s, and as we have revealed, four of his children were recruited into the security forces (one in the Police and three in the National Guard).
The person in question was allegedly involved in packages containing materials and was delivered to the 33-year-old and the 38-year-old. What can be inferred was that the 54-year-old was involved in the trafficking of precursors for the manufacture of explosives.
In addition, the 54-year-old Palestinian with Cypriot citizenship, who was indicted the day before yesterday, along with a 32-year-old and a 38-year-old, for the terrorism case in a direct trial before the Permanent Criminal Court that will meet on August 6, was released on parole by the Larnaca District Court.
The accused had objected to his detention and today the court's decision was announced. In its decision, the Court stated that it considers that there is a visible possibility of conviction of the other defendants in the case. In contrast, as he states, the entire testimony about the 54-year-old that allegedly connects him to the present case has weaknesses. Thus, the request for his detention was rejected and specific conditions were submitted. The defendant must sign a bail of €1 million with creditworthy guarantors, surrender his travel documents and report 4 times a week to a police station.
Kostas Pikramenos: "Hamas networks are dormant"
The European Parliament's expert on Turkey, Intelligence Services and Political Islam, Kostas Pikramenos, commenting on the developments in relation to the current case, spoke of dormant Hamas networks.
Mr. Pikramenos, author of the recently published book "Turkish Secret Services" (Infognomon publications), said in his initial comment: "The Military Wing of Hamas (Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades) has been greatly weakened after almost three years of war in the Gaza Strip. In late May 2026, the IDF neutralized Hamas' supreme military commander, Mohamed Odeh.
The Political Bureau of Hamas (in exile) has taken the decision, as early as the end of 2024, to carry out terrorist operations in Europe against Jewish and Israeli targets. The decision was taken in order to put pressure on the Israeli government once the release of the hostages by Hamas had been completed. In 2025 alone, there were arrests of operational members of Hamas in Germany, Denmark, Italy and Austria. The arrests in Cyprus and Greece complete the puzzle of the dormant Hamas networks that are ready or in preparation to carry out terrorist attacks."
Interpreting the latest developments on our island, he said: "The confessions of those arrested in Greece and Cyprus about their going to Malaysia for training in the assembly of explosive devices confirms an 'open secret'.
The Southeast Asian country has been used for many years as a hub for funding, recruiting and training for the benefit of Hamas' military wing. Since 2013 (the visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to Gaza) many missions of Hamas leaders to Kuala Labour, the capital of Malaysia, have been recorded. This country has always supported the Palestinian Struggle, having established diplomatic relations with Yasser Arafat's PLO and since 2007 it has recognized the Hamas government in Gaza.
In 2018, the Mossad assassinated engineer Fadi Muhammad al-Batas, a member of Hamas' military wing, in the Malaysian capital. Although the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister stated in 2024 that there are no Hamas training camps in Malaysia, the recent confessions of those arrested refute previous claims by Malaysian officials."
In his concluding remarks, he spoke about the intelligence services in Greece and Cyprus: "Both the EYP and the KYP are unfortunately relying on the Israeli Mossad at an information level to identify and identify dormant networks of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. We have seen this in many cases over the past 15 years.
The lack of human resources, the low quality training of the executives, the lack of learning of languages such as Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, Pashto, the absence of infiltration operations in mosques, places of prayer, cultural associations are the main reasons why the National Intelligence Service and the KYP act as the "poor relative" in the field of counter-terrorism."
