Another 60 kilos of cannabis found

POLICE found another 60kg of cannabis in a Larnaca flat yesterday, as part of further investigations into the drugs found in charcoal storage facilities a day earlier, taking the total amount confiscated to 176kg.

The latest stash was found in an apartment rented by the 38-year-old Egyptian believed to be the ringleader of the operation which involved the import of large quantities of drugs from Egypt using charcoal containers.

The Drugs Squad (YKAN) originally uncovered 113kg of cannabis and hashish in Sotira and Kiti villages in Larnaca on Thursday. Eight people were remanded in custody as a result. 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 and five other Egyptian men, aged between 21 and 54 years old who worked for the Cypriot.

The 38-year-old operated a charcoal importing and storage business from Kiti, which he rented from the Greek Cypriot.

When police went looking for documents in another apartment under the Egyptian’s name, they found his bedroom bare apart from 60kg of packaged cannabis and a weighing machine. During the course of the day, another three kilos of cannabis were also found.

According to reports, Drugs Squad investigators are due to widen their investigations, travelling to Egypt to cooperate with their counterparts there.

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