Pafos Live 6 August 2026
New fire this morning in the village of Arsos. Strong firefighting forces rushed to the scene and are fighting to extinguish the fire.
It is noted that in recent days two more fires have broken out in the area.
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A 37-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of this morning by virtue of a court warrant, at Larnaca airport, for the offenses of theft, extortion of property with false representations, money laundering and others.
The 37-year-old had been arrested in Great Britain, pursuant to a European arrest warrant pending against him and issued in Cyprus.
Against the 37-year-old, 20 cases are being investigated regarding the above offenses, which were committed between 2022 and 2023 in Limassol and Nicosia, where the arrested person allegedly extorted sums of money and vehicles, with a total value of €827,400.
Specifically, the 37-year-old allegedly presented himself as a car importer from abroad and extorted money from citizens interested in buying a car without, however, importing the vehicles.
The arrested person was taken into custody and is expected to appear before the Limassol District Court this morning for the procedure for issuing a detention order.
The TAE Limassol continues the examinations.
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Filenews
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 police operations, nine persons were arrested for various offenses, such as illegal possession of drugs, illegal stay in the Republic and traffic offenses.
As part of these operations, during the night, 450 vehicles were stopped for inspection and 620 persons on board were checked. At the same time, 51 inspections were carried out in premises with the aim of dealing with phenomena of delinquency, without a complaint being made.
During traffic checks carried out, 308 complaints were made, concerning various traffic violations, while 12 investigated cases of traffic violations also emerged.
Of the complaints made, 88 concerned exceeding the speed limit, while as part of the police examinations, 10 vehicles were detained.
174 alcohol tests were carried out, from which 9 complaints emerged, as well as 6 preliminary drug tests with five positive results.
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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Five police arrests have finally been made in connection with the very serious terrorism case that was revealed last May when two Palestinians, 32 and 38 years old, who are alleged to be members of a Hamas network, were located, who were preparing terrorist attacks in Cyprus. This was followed by the arrest of a 54-year-old Palestinian, with Cypriot citizenship, while the arrest of a 41-year-old man who lived in Indonesia and is alleged to be the leader of the network saw the light of day on July 18. What was unknown is that in July, a fifth person was arrested by the Police, a 32-year-old Palestinian, who, in fact, lived in Cyprus.
This is a person with a declared place of residence in Limassol, according to information from Filenews, who allegedly arranged the transfer of the first 32-year-old to Turkey, to which he seems to have gone himself. As "F" had written in other reports, in addition to the trips to Malaysia, where there are testimonies of the presence of a Hamas training place, there was also a trip to Istanbul, in which a wanted person allegedly gave instructions to the 32-year-old (the one who was arrested first) about the terrorist attacks in Cyprus.
The five arrested will be brought back to court tomorrow where a new procedure will be held for their referral to a direct trial before the Permanent Criminal Court of Larnaca. According to competent sources, in order to place all five in the same indictment, the previous three cases that were registered will be suspended and a new referral will be made. This is essentially a formality, which will be done so that the three cases that were registered become one.
It is recalled that the very serious case was revealed on May 21, when under extreme secrecy, the 32-year-old and the 38-year-old were arrested in a house in an area near Pentakomo. The first lived with his wife and child in Larnaca and was allegedly connected to two houses (Pentakomo and Kamares Larnaka), in which large quantities of dangerous substances and explosive manufacturing equipment were found. The 32-year-old reportedly confessed that he was recruited by a member of Hamas, that he received instructions to buy materials for the manufacture of explosives and that he photographed targets in Cyprus. When he bought a large volume of chemicals and equipment, the 38-year-old Palestinian, who is a physics teacher, arrived illegally in Cyprus with the purpose, according to what the 32-year-old said, to make the explosive devices.
The 54-year-old with Cypriot citizenship, who has 4 children in the security forces of the Republic, was then arrested. The 54-year-old is said to have been the recipient of packages with dangerous substances and denies any involvement in the case. He was initially released on parole, but the decision was overturned at the Court of Appeal, which ordered him to be taken into custody.
As for the 41-year-old who was arrested in Indonesia and deported to Cyprus, he is said to be the mastermind of the terrorist attacks in Cyprus. This person was said to have initially resided in Malaysia and gave instructions to the other members of the network to manufacture explosive devices, with the aim of hitting Israeli targets within the Republic of Cyprus.
The five defendants face very serious charges, among others, of terrorism, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to commit a felony, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization.
It is recalled that a 37-year-old Palestinian who was arrested in Crete and allegedly prepared terrorist attacks on Greek soil allegedly belongs to the same network.
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Two cases of transport of duty-free tobacco products were detected on Wednesday, August 5, by officials of the Customs Department, during checks at the Deryneia crossing point.
In the first case, customs authorities intercepted a vehicle with Cypriot registration numbers, driven by a 46-year-old Hungarian national.
During the check, 59 boxes were found in the luggage compartment, each containing 200 cigarettes. The packages did not carry the prescribed warnings about the harmful effects of smoking in the Greek and Turkish languages, nor a safety feature and a unique traceability code, which, according to the Customs Department, showed that they were duty-free.
The tobacco products and the vehicle, as a means of transporting them, were confiscated. The 46-year-old was arrested for flagrante delicto offenses and was later released, after his proposal for an out-of-court settlement of the case was accepted.
For the settlement, he paid €3,600, as well as an additional €400 for the return of the vehicle.
A little later, at the same crossing point, officials of the Customs Department stopped a Turkish Cypriot taxi, which was transporting an Israeli passenger to Larnaca airport.
A check carried out on the passenger's luggage found four packages of hookah tobacco, weighing one kilogram each.
The packages did not bear the prescribed warning markings in Greek and Turkish, nor a safety feature and a unique traceability code.
The tobacco products were confiscated and the prescribed procedure for their destruction will be followed.
The passenger was initially arrested for flagrante delicto offenses and then released, after paying €1,400 for the out-of-court settlement of the case.
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An extremely critical incident in the Prisons is denounced by EQUALITY, while talking about drug trafficking, delinquency and criminal understaffing and firing at the Ministry of Justice.
In a relevant announcement, a specific incident is pointed out with a prison guard who, during an episode of violence, was exposed to a prisoner's blood, as a result of which he is under medical supervision that will last for months, for the risk of transmitting a blood-borne disease.
The announcement is as follows:
A few days ago, a colleague on the front line stepped among detainees to stop a serious episode of violence. He did it with his bare hands, as is always the case here, and prevented worse. He came out with the blood of a third party on him.
Since then, he has been under medical supervision for the risk of transmitting a blood-borne disease, repeated tests for months, a period in which no test is final, and a family waiting with him. In the meantime, he continues to come to his service normally.
We do not name the colleague. We do not publish either the disease or any other health data – his own or that of a third party. We know first-hand what it means to turn an employee's health into public material, and we are not going to do it at anyone's expense. The Ministry, however, knows exactly which incident we are referring to and must have a written record of it. We add just one fact: we have never asked which organisation the colleague belongs to. He is a colleague. That is enough, and that exhausts the question.
The incident was not a bolt from the blue. It was the expected result of known and recorded conditions. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has documented high levels of violence among detainees, inadequate medical care and – most critically – that staff, due to chronic understaffing, are unable to guarantee safety within the wings. The Permanent Criminal Court of Nicosia, in case 19600/2022, found in court the trafficking and use of drugs within the Central Prisons. When the employer knows that drugs are circulating in his space, that violence is daily and that there are not enough staff, exposure to blood ceases to be a misfortune. A prediction is made. And whatever is provided, or prevented or charged to someone.
Occupational safety and health legislation leaves no discretion: it requires a written risk assessment, protective measures, the provision of appropriate equipment and training of staff. This is not a courtesy of the employer to the employees. This is an obligation, the breach of which gives rise to liability. We therefore ask directly and expect a written answer: Is there a written risk assessment for the biological hazard in the wings of the Central Prisons? When was it drafted and when was it revised? What is the written protocol that is activated the moment a prison guard is exposed to blood? And who applied it to this particular incident?
We are not raising it today for the first time. On 7 May 2026, we requested in writing, among other things, the protection of the health of frontline personnel, including a medical exposure check. We never received a substantial answer. And this silence is not an administrative oversight: The Minister of Justice and Public Order himself publicly stated, in front of television cameras, that he does not and will not take into account our letters. In other words, it is a declared policy with a video confession. When the office door closes, only the publicity and the envelope remain open. We use both.
In place of measures, we receive announcements: committees, studies, zoning, action plan, high-security fencing, a "dead zone" of forty to sixty meters around the future building. The timetable, in fact, is not set by the Minister himself: Start of projects before the end of 2027, completion not before 2030, four to five years of construction and operation.
With their own numbers, therefore, our colleagues will go in and out of the current building for at least another 1,200 nights. We asked for protection measures, we received architecture. No model ever stopped bleeding, and no blueprint ever prevented transmission.
And a question that remains painstakingly unanswered. The new institution is planned for one thousand two hundred and fifty detention places. How many prison guards does the Ministry of Justice plan to recruit? Because today, in infrastructures designed for about six hundred people, about one thousand two hundred souls are stacked. Our calculations speak of over 150 positions that need to be filled and the last recruitment attempt confirmed this in the worst way, since sixty-eight of the ninety positions announced were filled.
Closed, open and semi-open wings, juvenile prison, Mennogeia. Unstaffed beds don't mean less risk, they mean more. The state is planning a buffer zone around the future building. Within the current, dead zone is the distance that separates one prison guard from the next.
We demand four things, concrete and measurable, and we ask for a written response within seven days:
- Comprehensive protection against biological hazards. Written risk assessment per wing; Adequate personal protective equipment in every shift and in each ward, not in a locker in the office Disinfectants and materials for the safe management of biological materials and a written, recorded protocol after exposure, with immediate medical referral, a full series of tests, vaccination coverage where appropriate, psychological support and explicit confirmation of the time of absence, without financial or disciplinary burden on the colleague.
- Emergency staffing. Immediate filling of vacancies and a binding timetable for permanent staffing, with numbers and dates. The announcements do not cover a wing.
- Decongestion without postponement. Substantial expansion of electronic surveillance to prisoners, drastic increase in community service and utilization of every legal alternative measure. Decongestion does not need bulldozers; needs decisions.
- Humane working conditions. End the confinement of staff behind manual doors, rational shifts, and meaningful training in incident management. All submitted in writing, repeatedly – and all unanswered.
We are not asking for the 2030 project to be cancelled. Let it be done, and let it be done right. We ask that no one be charged with the cost of waiting. The measures we list do not cost millions and do not require four years: They require a signature and the basic political will to consider the health of the staff at least as serious as the model. As long as they are not given, responsibility is recorded – with names, dates and documents.
This is communicated to the Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights and the Department of Labour Inspection, and is included in the material kept by the Trade Union before the competent European and international bodies.
We are not asking for privileges. We ask to return home as we left, alive and able-bodied.
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The investigations of the Kofinos Police Station continue to clarify all aspects of the case of arson in a wooded area in Corno last Sunday, for which a man and a woman aged 26 and 28 from Brazil were arrested as suspects. It is recalled that the two were seen by a couple passing by the area lighting sparklers near a forest, resulting in a fire.
According to information from philenews, the two arrested claimed that they bought the sparklers from a kiosk in the area and lit them for fun. The first part of what they mentioned seems to have been confirmed after the kiosk from which they bought them was located. As for the motives, at this stage, according to competent sources, all possibilities remain open pending the completion of the forensic check on their mobile phones.
The two are suspected of serious offenses involving conspiracy to commit a felony, arson in a forest, attempted arson, negligent and reckless acts, as well as illegal possession and use of explosives. Yesterday they were brought before the Larnaca District Court, which ordered their eight-day detention.
It is recalled that the spread of the fire was prevented by a couple from the area who saw two people lighting sparklers near the forest at 7 pm on Sunday. According to their testimony, they got out of the car and observed the two, who entered a car and disappeared. The couple put out the fire and photographed the perpetrators' car, which led to the arrest of the two Brazilians who live and work in Limassol.
