A MECHANIC from Nicosia was remanded in custody yesterday on suspicion of stealing car parts from a bonded warehouse.
Mechanic and Nicosia garage owner Costas Zinonas, 58, is under investigation by Nicosia CID on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime and theft.
Addressing the court in yesterday’s remand hearing, Investigator Panicos Hadjileontis said the suspect was believed to have stripped the parts off the cars while they were still in a bonded warehouse, which belongs to Andreas Pavlou of Strovolos.
In total, Zinonos is believed to have stolen engines, doors, seats and bonnets from a total of 11 cars in the bonded warehouse last January.
The stolen car parts, which came from Mazda and Mitsubishi vehicles, are worth a total of £3,720.
The complaint was filed to Nicosia CID last February by Pavlou, who told police 11 of his cars had been stripped.
Investigators finally got their breakthrough when Zinonas’ best friend, Fanos Hadjinicolas, told Pavlou it was Zinonas who had stolen the car parts.
According to Pavlou, he was told the suspect would drive to his warehouse with a truck and take the cars back to his own garage, where he would strip the parts.
“The plaintiff was told that the suspect would keep some of the car parts for his own garage, while others would be sold to a mechanic in Larnaca,” said the investigator.
Pavlou informed investigators on September 12 of what he had been told by Hadjinicolas and officers moved in and arrested Zinonas on September 26.
The mechanic in Larnaca was later interviewed by officers, informing them that the suspect had sold him seven car engines for £1,200.
Zinonas protested his innocence, telling officers that the car parts belonged to Hadjinicolas.
During his statement to the police, Zinonas admitted to investigating officers that he was stripping the cars but said it was with Pavlou’s permission. He added that Hadjinicolas, who is wanted by the police and is believed to be hiding in the Turkish occupied north, was also stripping the car parts and had, at one stage, sold two car engines to another mechanic in the presence of Pavlou.
Zinonas was remanded in custody for six days.
