Ecstasy bust in north

TURKISH Cypriot authorities have seized 3,301 ecstasy pills in two separate operations in the past week.

On Friday, police discovered 1,935 pills in a car heading for Kyrenia. The driver Metin Aydin and his brother Tekin Aydin, both from Turkey, were arrested.

Earlier in the week, another 1,366 ecstasy pills were seized in a park in northern Nicosia.

Police arrested two young men who have been charged with possession of the drugs. They told a court that the ecstasy pills were brought from Izmir, a coastal city in south-western Turkey.

All the accused were detained, awaiting further trial.

Turkey sits at the centre of drug-smuggling crossroads. Synthetic drugs such as ecstasy transit from West to East, while opiates move from central Asia to European countries.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.