Anna Hassapi
LIMASSOL Police are searching for a 31-year-old Bosnian man, suspected of cocaine trafficking after finding 1.165kg of cocaine in a car he was seen abandoning at a Linopetra parking place. The cocaine, in addition to the 1kg of cannabis police confiscated in a separate operation on Wednesday, are believed to be just part of a larger quantity of illegal drugs that arrived in Cyprus through Limassol Port.
Police are investigating the possibility that a port employee may be involved in the smuggling operation, which would explain the ease with which illegal substances pass through port checks.
At the beginning of the week, the Drug Prevention Unit (YKAN) had received information that a large quantity of illegal drugs would be arriving through Limassol Port. YKAN placed the port under surveillance.
On Thursday, police officers saw the 31-year-old suspect arrive at the port by car and saw him talking to two people. Police believe that the deal took place at a point when the police officers could not see the suspect.
When officers saw the Bosnian national leaving the port by car, they followed him and saw him abandon his car at the parking place of a major toy shop chain outlet at Linopetra. The suspect was seen entering a rental car, driven by a second person and leaving the scene.
Police kept watch on the car for a few hours, in case someone came to pick up the cocaine. The rental car the second suspect used to leave the parking place returned at some point and was stopped by police, although police found nothing incriminating in the car.
Finally, in the early hours of Friday (between 4am and 5am), police unlocked the car in the presence of the suspect’s brother. After a search, police found the quantity of cocaine divided in two parcels, one containing 597g and the other 567g.
Police then searched the suspect’s apartment where they found half a gram of cocaine, a precision scale and a locked safe box. A warrant for the 31-year-old’s arrest has been issued and his name is on the stop list in airports and ports.
The suspect is a permanent resident of Cyprus and had been working at a Limassol gym.
This is the second drug bust in Limassol this week, after one kilo of cannabis was confiscated by police on Wednesday. On that day, police arrested a 28-year-old Jordanian man in the yard of a Polemidia church. The 28-year-old, who is presently in remand, was meant to deliver the drugs to a second person, who managed to flee from police.
