IN THE latest major drug bust, police have uncovered 113 kilos of cannabis and hashish imported from Egypt, which were hidden in charcoal storage facilities in Sotira and Kiti villages in Larnaca.
Eight people were remanded in custody yesterday in connection with the drugs bust.
Police say they are also not ruling out the possibility of finding additional quantities of drugs or of making further arrests.
“This is one of the biggest cases- perhaps the biggest,” said Philippos Vrondos, Director of the Drug Crime Prevention Unit (YKAN).
The main suspects are a 52-year-old Cypriot man from Sotira, his 45-year-old Bulgarian wife, a 38-year-old man from Egypt, who is reportedly the ringleader, and five other Egyptian men, aged between 21 and 54 years old who worked for the Cypriot.
“It appears that the drugs were imported from Egypt inside charcoal containers,” Vrondos said.
The police operation started on Wednesday afternoon when YKAN officers went to the Kiti site where the Egyptian operated the charcoal importing and storage business.
The establishment is owned by the Greek-Cypriot suspect who rented it out to the second suspect from Egypt.
At Kiti, police found 1.5 kilos of cannabis divided in two glass jars placed next to a container, from which the suspects were unloading the charcoal.
Police then searched the Egyptian’s flat in Larnaca where they found an additional 10 grams of hashish and 20 grams of cannabis. The search then continued at the Cypriot suspect’s house in Sotira. There, police found 80 kilos of hashish.
In addition to the drugs, police found a Veterinary Services stamp, which was reportedly stolen in the past and police are investigating whether the suspect had used it improperly as he is also in the meat and animal grazing business. A fake Bulgarian passport was also confiscated from the 52-year-old’s house.
The search then spread to the area around the Sotira house and police discovered an underground bunker. In there, they police found an additional 33 kilos of cannabis. Based on the fact that there were two beds and heating in the bunker, police believe that the suspects were guarding the drugs at night.
Due to the large quantity of drugs, police stayed on site throughout the night to catalogue the substances.
The eight suspects appeared before Larnaca District Court yesterday, where an eight-day remand was issued.
