Most serious drug cases involve trafficking from north

POLICE spokesman Demetris Demetriou yesterday said four out of six serious drug trafficking cases were from the north.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Demetriou said 10 Turkish Cypriots had been arrested this year in four serious drug-related cases.

“There were six serious drug-trafficking cases this year, and four of those had to do with drug-trafficking from the north,” he said.

Demetriou said there had been 10 bank and Co-op robberies this year out of which five were carried out in Nicosia.

“The police has solved five of the bank and co-op cases that took place in Nicosia and has arrested another man involved in a bank robbery in Limassol in January,” he said.

According to Demetriou, the number of illegal immigrants coming to the island increased this year, with 1,159 immigrants arrested compared to 346 arrests made last year.

“We have clamped down on six illegal trafficking rings in the period March 21 to March 29,” Demetriou said.

“Four of the trafficking rings were operating in Larnaca, and we arrested 28 immigrants and three citizens that have been charged with conspiring to commit a crime,” he added.
Demetriou said 64 Greek Cypriot employers had been arrested in the first three months of the year for illegally employing 112 foreigners.

According to Demetriou, traffic violations have also increased this year compared to the number of offences reported by the police.

“From January 1 until April 1 there were more than 32,000 cases of traffic violations, that’s 7,637 more than last year, or an increase of 31 per cent,” Demitriou said.

“The number of fatal road accidents remains the same, but the number of drivers killed this year has been reduced by five.”

From January 19 until yesterday, police had confiscated 237 cars that were not roadworthy, and have booked more than 1,000 foreign drivers for driving without a licence.