Prison warden’s cannabis nursery

A PRISON warden from Yeri and a man from Nicosia were arrested and remanded in custody for eight days yesterday on suspicion of cultivating more than 260 cannabis plants in a villa in Protaras, and distributing the drugs on the market.

The prison warden, Michalis Antoniades, 34, was allegedly named by 30-year-old George Panayides Atteshli from Nicosia who was also arrested and remanded in custody along with his 24-year-old girlfriend Christiana Demetriou.

Panayides claimed Antoniades gave him the money to buy the technical equipment that was installed in the bedrooms of a villa in Protaras, which had been converted into a cannabis nursery

According to the police, the suspects “closed the deal” last November. Antoniades had allegedly given Panayides around €11.000 to buy two power generators, but also to pay for the rent of the holiday home which was €900 a month.

The court heard from prosecutors how the drugs were taken to Antoniades’ house in Yeri and from there were distributed on the market. Officers from the Famagusta Drug Squad are confident that they will find and capture the fourth member of the ring, and did not rule out that the investigation would lead to other possible suspects.

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