Sex not drugs blamed for bomb attack

AN ILLICIT affair, and not illegal drugs, is now thought to be behind Saturday’s Limassol car wash explosion, a court heard yesterday.

A 36-year-old man from Ypsonas, Renos Kyriacou, was remanded for eight days yesterday on suspicion of carrying out the bomb attack in Limassol last weekend.

Evanthis Ioannou, 31, suffered light injuries when a booby-trap device exploded as he was opening the door to his car wash.

The Limassol district court heard yesterday that the victim was having a love affair with a married woman, whose family are close friends of the suspect.

Kyriacou is also suspected of planting an earlier bomb outside Ioannou’s Yerasa home on January 24.

According to police, last Friday Kyriacou arranged over the phone to meet Ioannou at his car wash on the Saturday at 11am.

But when Ioannou arrived and turned the key to his office door, a device detonated and ripped the car wash apart.

Although the suspect has not given a statement, police told the court that Kyriacou’s explanation of his movements at the time of the blast contradicted other witness testimony.

Ioannou is currently in police custody as a suspected drug dealer.

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.