Victims of shooting arrested after ammunition find

By George Psyllides

THREE Limassol men wounded in a suspected gangland hit on Tuesday were yesterday arrested by police on suspicion of illegal possession of ammunition.

All three men were brought up before Limassol District Court yesterday morning. Police said they found two pistol bullets in the car the three were in when they were ambushed outside Kivides village, in the Limassol area, on Tuesday evening.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the three might have been involved in an exchange of fire with their unknown assailants on Tuesday. Makis Ioannou, and brother Stelios and Christos Christou, alias Ninjakia (the Ninja brothers) told police they had been out training their dogs when their car came under fire.

Ioannou was shot in the shoulder, while the Christou brothers escaped with minor injuries.

Court proceedings were adjourned yesterday to allow the suspects time to find lawyers to represent them. They are expected to reappear before the same court today.

No one was arrested yesterday in connection with the ambush, which police are treating as an attempted murder. But reports suggested police had interrogated various suspects named as likely culprits by the three victims.

Police are not sure who the intended target for Tuesday’s attack was. They are treating the shooting incident as part of an ongoing bloody feud between underworld gangs vying for control of the lucrative cabaret circuit, seen as a front for prostitution and gambling rings.

Makis Ioannou is the brother of George Ioannou, alias Kotsiouthkias, who was murdered in January last year outside the Handres nightclub in Limassol.

There is another illegal explosives possession case pending against the Christou brothers.

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