Police chief ‘furious’ over set-up claim

By Charlie Charalambous

POLICE chief Andreas Angelides yesterday ordered an investigation into claims that a drug squad officer tried to frame his mistress’s husband so they could run off together.

According to reports, the police chief was furious after he was told of the contents of a tape which apparently has a senior officer threatening to put someone behind bars.

“Police chief Andreas Angelides has ordered a police enquiry in connection with a case of illegal entrapment and a taped conversation with a police officer and the wife of a man on trial for drugs,” a police press release said yesterday.

It is understood the policeman was having an affair with the wife of a man who is on trial in connection with a drug trafficking case involving 115 kilos of hashish from Bulgaria.

The accused man claims he was framed and says he has a tape recording to prove it.

When he became suspicious of his wife, he hired a private detective to follow her and tap the phone.

Following the private surveillance operation, the man discovered his wife was having erotic phone conversations with a police officer.

But the conversations also allegedly had the police officer saying he would “stick” his mistress’s husband in jail so they could run off together.

Although the tape cannot be used as evidence in court, the police chief is said to be determined to come down hard on any member of the police bringing shame upon the force.

“Mr Angelides is interested in the substance of the case, and, if any proof is found against the officer, he will not hesitate to take action,” police spokesman Stelios Neophytou told the Cyprus Mail.

The police see the matter as especially sensitive, as it involves a high- profile drugs case in which any possible convictions could be made unsafe by such allegations.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.