Police find no trace of fugitive, despite reported sightings

POLICE were yesterday continuing investigations into the whereabouts of 52-year-old escaped convict Andreas Onoufrios, amidst daily reports of sightings.

Although all reports were investigated, none had not led to the convicted bomber from Limassol, police spokesman Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail.

Onoufrios failed to return to jail after being given a 24-hour pass to get married a week ago today. He had been serving an 18-year sentence for the attempted murder of a judge in 1997, but was due for release in just over two years time for good behaviour.
He failed to return to jail at midday on Saturday, forcing police to launch a nationwide manhunt.

Police fear Onoufrios may have escaped to the occupied north and from there gone abroad. There is no co-operation between authorities in the government controlled areas and Turkish Cypriot ‘police’ in the occupied areas, said Demetriou.

However, he added, police had not received reports of sightings of the fugitive in the north.

Meanwhile, Central Prison director Panicos Kyriakou is still looking into the matter of an alleged report from the secret services (KYP) that Onoufrios had been planning his escape for months, as well as reports that he held British and Cypriot passports that had both disappeared.

Kyriakou said he had done everything by the book and was in no way being held responsible for the prisoner’s flight.

“I am only upset that this has given a bad impression of the prison. Just when things were improving, something as unexpected as this has happened. However, we will continue to try and improve things.”

“I am no medium and we must bear in mind that this is no nursery or girls’ school, and there are some risks involved,” Kyriakou added.

The Justice Ministry is now considering implementing tracking devices to keep tabs on prisoners’ during their 24-hour passes. These passes are granted when prisoners have completed one third of their prison sentence and are a way of rehabilitating convicts back into society before their release.

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.