Blackmail suspects ‘caught in the act’

By Martin Hellicar

TWO Larnaca men tried to blackmail two executives out of £320,000 by threatening to “damage” their tourism firm, the Larnaca District Court heard yesterday.

A police sting operation caught the two suspects, a 41-year-old civil engineer and a 30-year-old driver, red-handed making a threatening call to one of the executives, the court heard.

Police set out on the trail of the suspected blackmailers on Tuesday afternoon, after two Aqua Sol Hotel executives showed police a threatening letter allegedly sent by the two, case investigator Andreas Yiatropoulos said.

The Aqua Sol executives told police that the blackmailers had already contacted them from a public call box to reiterate their letter threat and were to call them again to arrange the hand-over of the £320,000. Armed with this information, police detailed some 35 officers to watch all the public call boxes in Larnaca town, Yiatropoulos told the court.

The surveillance paid off, police nabbing the two suspects in a call box on Hamit Bey Street at about 8 pm on Tuesday. One of the men was calling Aqua Sol at the time while the other was standing outside the phone booth, urging his friend to ‘hurry up’, the case investigator said.

The two men later confessed to conspiring to blackmail the two Aqua Sol executives between August 27 and 29, Yiatropoulos said. It was not clear yesterday how the tow suspects planned to “damage” Aqua Sol.

The two alleged blackmailers were remanded in custody for eight days.

This is the second time this month the tourism firm has been the target for criminals.

Earlier this month, a company employee carrying £40,000 was attacked by two muggers on the steps of the company’s Ayia Napa offices. Police foiled the attack and arrested one of the attackers.

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