Man arrested over illegal casino

A TURKISH Cypriot man was released on £1,000 bail by the Larnaca court yesterday but must appear again on February 7 in connection with the ongoing saga of operating an illegal casino in the mixed village of Pyla.

Sercan Suleyman, alias Kisa, has been arrested on at least a dozen occasions last year. He was taken into custody again on Tuesday evening for operating a casino out of a warehouse belonging to another Turkish Cypriot, Kemal Mustafa.

The building has been sealed on a number of occasions in the past, but the suspect persisted in operating the casino.

During yesterday’s court hearing Suleyman, 33, accused the Cyprus police of harassing him. “These police broke into my office in Pyla and arrested me. I have a Turkish business and I pay VAT in the north. If they do not want to recognise the north, they should leave the Turkish police to come and arrest me,” he said.

According to reports from Larnaca, Suleyman rented the building from Mustafa for £4,200 for two years but that Mustafa began to regret the deal over the illegal use of his property as a casino and asked the Cyprus police to help him remove Suleyman.

Prosecutors asked that Suleyman be remanded until February 7 but the court ruled that in the past he had proven reliable in turning up for his court appearances and released him on £1,000 bail.

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