POLICE said yesterday they had seized their biggest ever haul of ecstasy pills with a street value of around £55,000, following the arrest of a 34-year-old Nicosia man currently living in Limassol.
“It was the largest ecstasy haul ever,” drug squad Chief George Papageorgiou told the Cyprus Mail. “It’s one of the biggest cases in Cyprus concerning local consumption.”
The origin of the drugs is still under investigation, Papageorgiou said. Police said they had seized 5,588 tablets with a street value of around £10 each, as well as 17 tablets split in half, 80.5 grams of cannabis and a quantity of what is believed to be cocaine in the form of six small, plastic-wrapped balls.
Limassol district court yesterday remanded Vyronas Vyronos in custody for eight days in connection with the case. Police told the court that the suspect had been under surveillance for the past 15 days and was arrested on Thursday after he came out of a flat he rents on Platonos Street, Limassol.
Police alleged they found six grams of cocaine and 66 ecstasy tablets in his possession while he was seen getting rid of a satchel just before he was arrested. Two mobile phones and £1,700 were found in the suspect’s bag, police told the court.
Police then searched the suspect’s flat and allegedly found 5,522 ecstasy tablets, 17 tablets split in half and 17.5 grams of cannabis. They also claimed to have found another £1,700 in cash and a safe that had not yet been opened, the court heard.
The suspect is refusing to co-operate, said police, who are looking for accomplices as well as more drugs.
Police sources told the Cyprus Mail that Vyronos had been under surveillance and had been searched by drug squad officers last month during a stake-out at a Nicosia petrol station. Another man was allegedly beaten up by police at the same petrol station later the same night.
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.
