Two on drug dealing charges

TWO MEN have been ordered to stand trial at a Nicosia Criminal Court to answer to charges of possession and dealing around 300 grams of cannabis.
Adonis Fotiades, a 22-year-old student living in Nicosia, and 20-year-old Fotis Ioannou, who works in a kiosk, were arrested two weeks ago after Drug Squad officers found cannabis stashed in a bag containing dog food, a bag of ice in the freezer and even inside a teddy bear in the bedroom.

Officers also found weighing scales in the house, which was being rented by Fotiades.
Fotiades’ friend Ioannou was later arrested.
Yesterday, Nicosia Judge Alexandros Panayiotou instructed both men to answer as to whether they understood the seven charges against them relating to cannabis possession and dealing.

Both men said that they understood the charges.
State Prosecutor Margarita Avraamidou informed Fotiades that he was being charged with possession with intention to deal 318 grams of cannabis, while Ioannou was informed that he was being charged with possession with intention to deal 310 grams of cannabis.

Fotiades was also charged with smoking a cigarette containing cannabis.
Both men have so far denied the charges to investigators.
Yesterday, the prosecution requested from the judge that both men be held in police custody until the trial on March 22 “due to the gravity of the charges” and because police said Ioannou had in the past left the island in the middle of a trial in which he was facing similar charges.

But the request was rejected by Judge Panayiotou, who informed the prosecutor that they were obliged to present material evidence to back up the claim of Ioannou fleeing the island.

The judge then ordered that both men sign a £10,000 guarantee that they would show up at their next trial date, that they hand in their passports and other travel documents to the police and that they present themselves to a police station every day.
The arrest of the two men was conducted during a nationwide drug squad clampdown in February.

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