FOUR British tourists suspected of dealing in ecstasy and a Nicosia man allegedly caught with hashish and cocaine in his underpants were yesterday remanded by local courts.
Three of the British tourists – John Paddington, 32, Craig Dykes, 29 and Kevin O’Brian, 23 – were arrested after a police chase through Ayia Napa on Tuesday night.
The fourth, 23-year-old Kieran Dennis Hambly, was arrested in the foyer of a hotel apartment block in the tourist resort in the early hours yesterday.
Police believe the four men, who all come from Whitchurch in Shropshire, are members of the same drug pushing gang.
In Paphos meanwhile, a local man was remanded after police found hashish and cocaine in his underwear following a search on Tuesday afternoon.
Paddington, Dykes and O’Brian were brought up before the Famagusta District Court, convening in Larnaca, yesterday morning.
The court heard that Famagusta Drug Squad officers had sighted the three men "moving suspiciously" in downtown Ayia Napa on Tuesday night. The officers moved in, but the three made a run for it.
Paddington escaped by jumping down a 12-foot embankment. The court heard that a cigarette packet fell out of Paddington’s pocket when he made his "leap for freedom". The cigarette packet contained 99 ecstasy tablets, police told the court.
Dykes and O’Brian were eventually pinned down. According to police, O’Brian then punched an officer in the face. O’Brian managed to escape the officers’ clutches but was apprehended by bystanders.
Paddington was later arrested by police acting on information provided by the two other suspects.
The three tourists were remanded for eight days on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs and resisting arrest.
Hambly was brought up before the same court later yesterday morning.
The court heard that he had been arrested at about 2am yesterday in a hotel apartment block foyer. Police said he tried to throw a bag contained seven ecstasy tablets into a waste bin in the foyer just before he was arrested. The court heard that Hambly had confessed that the drugs were for his use.
Police told the court they were trying to prove their suspicions that the four Britons had worked together to supply drugs in Ayia Napa.
Hambly was remanded for eight days.
In Paphos, 26-year-old Nicosia man Demetris Ioannou, alias Kapnoullas, was brought up before the town’s District Court.
The court heard that police had stopped Kapnoullas on the Limassol to Paphos motorway on Tuesday afternoon.
A plastic bag containing a quantity of hashish and 8.5 grammes of cocaine wrapped in silver foil were found in Kapnoullas’ underpants, the court was told.
The suspect later confessed to police that the drugs were for his own use and that he had bought them in Nicosia, the court heard.
He was remanded for six days.
