Aradippou councillor gunned down

By Anthony O. Miller

A MASKED gunman critically wounded Andreas Xiourouppas, 54, in Larnaca yesterday.

The victim is the father of George Xiourouppas, who was arrested this month in connection with what police said was a gangland murder plot that they had foiled.

The unidentified gunman fired six to eight shots at the elder Xiourouppas, a municipal councillor in Aradippou, just before 8pm as he got out of his car, which he had just parked outside his Larnaca flat block, a witness said.

He was rushed into surgery in Larnaca General Hospital, where he was last night listed in critical condition. Police said he was hit in the back, head and chest.

The witness was also taken to hospital in a state of shock, police added.

The gunman got away on foot, police said, denying a report that a getaway car had been waiting for the assailant.

Larnaca police said they had no leads into either who the gunman was or the motive behind the shooting.

“We don’t know anything yet,” a Larnaca police spokesman said.

George Xiourouppas, 29, Kyriakos Sinesis and Andreas Sinesis were in a black BMW car late on October 6, when – according to police – they were handed three packages, said to have contained automatic weapons, by Theodoulos Sinesis, 24, and Pavlos Kouilis, 27. All five remain in jail on remand.

Police said they believe that, had they not foiled the alleged plot, the weapons would have been used to murder two underworld figures, whom they have not identified.

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