Two arrests in car parts racket

NICOSIA CID have arrested two men believed to have stolen around £24,000 in car parts from various auto-repair shops in Nicosia.

Yesterday Judge Alexia Lycourgou remanded the two men, aged 20 and 21, for five days in police custody despite a request from CID Sergeant Marios Constantinides to keep the men in his custody for eight days.

Addressing the court yesterday, the investigator said that his department believes that the two men are connected to the burglary of three garages in the Nicosia district – one garage was targeted twice within six months.

“In May last year, a garage in Anthoupolis was targeted in which various car parts such as the car computer system, exhaust pipes and a carburetor all worth around £11,760 was stolen”, said the investigator.

“Between January 5 and January 8 this year, a garage in Acropolis was targeted in which more car parts were stolen amounting to £3,840 was stolen. Between January 28 and January 29, the garage in Anthoupoli was targeted again and the culprits got away with more equipment amounting to £8,500.”

Constantinides went on to say that the first suspect was arrested on January 30 and that he immediately named the second suspect as his accomplice.

He also said the first suspect had taken them to a field close to his village where he had hidden some of the stolen car equipment.

“We will need to speak to the suspects’ friends and family members in connection with the case but we will also need to speak to the garage owners to see if they can identify some of the equipment that was found,” said the investigator.

The two suspects yesterday objected to the remand request of eight days saying telling the judge that they believed that eight days were too excessive.

Judge Lycourgou also said that eight days appeared “too long”, remanding the suspects instead for five days.

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