POLICE strongly believe that a hit man, killed in road accident last Sunday, had been planning to murder two more people after a hit list was found in an apartment he was renting in Nicosia.
Andreas Mariou, 39, was killed in a motorbike accident last weekend, but as investigations into the victim’s identity began to take place, police were faced with the shocking possibility that the dead motorcyclist was in fact a hired killer wanted by Interpol.
Further investigations revealed that Mariou was wanted in connection with two murders in Holland, on false passport charges in France while he had been jailed in the UK for the attempted murder of a British police officer.
Police sources have also said Mariou could have been behind the murders of Georgios Kyprou, aka Fantik, Kleonas Papadopoulou and Christos Leventopoulos.
All were killed by an assailant on a motorcycle.
Mariou’s motorcycle on which he crashed is believed to have been the same motorcycle as was used in the killings of the three men.
According to police sources, Mariou had written a hit list in which he had named two men, a Cypriot and a British national, who were targeted for elimination.
Politis newspaper yesterday quoted police sources saying that Mariou was working for “a powerful man”, aiming to gain a monopoly in the underworld activities of Cyprus by killing all his competition.
It is believed this same individual had worked out a scheme to have his enemies turn against each other.
As investigations continued following the discovery of a weapons cache at a Nicosia apartment rented by Mariou on Tuesday, police examined the possibility that Mariou, who was living in Limassol with his Belgian wife, had also kept an apartment in Larnaca with a similar stash of weapons.
The Belgian woman, who has been remanded for eight days on drug related charges, is understood to have admitted she knew her husband was involved in illegal dealings but didn’t know what exactly.
Police were led to the Acropolis apartment by Mariou’s 26-year-old English Cypriot cousin – arrested after Mariou was found with his drivers’ licence when he died – where they found an automatic firearm, a loading clip, and a number of loaded cartridges, a pistol, and a bullet proof jacket.
The items were gathered for evidence and it is believed ballistics tests on the weapons will be carried out to determine whether any of them are a match for local murders.
Justice Minister Sofoclis Sofocleous told reporters this week that Mariou remained undetected on the island because he had entered Cyprus on a false passport.
He also described Mariou as “a cold blooded murderer.”
A Turkish woman has also been arrested in connection with the case.
Sources said police were investigating information she was the contact for what hits were to be made, which she then passed on to Mariou.
