A RUSSIAN national was yesterday being treated in hospital after he was assaulted and robbed of €10,000 at his home in Paphos as police busted two gangs of thieves that have netted some €700,000 in stolen goods.
The 57-year-old, permanent resident said he was attacked by three individuals on Friday night.
The robbers broke into his home at Coral Bay through a veranda door and after beating and tying him they stole €10,000 and fled.
The man managed to free himself shortly afterwards and notified the police.
He was taken to Paphos hospital with a fractured skull where and was kept for treatment.
His condition is stable.
Meanwhile Nicosia police have arrested a 43-year-old career burglar in connection with the theft of jewellery worth some €400,000 from a Nicosia home, it was announced yesterday.
Authorities are also seeking another man, 44, believed to be the suspect’s accomplice in the robbery.
The two are suspected of breaking into a Nicosia apartment earlier this month and stealing around €400,000 worth of jewellery, diamonds and other valuable stones.
Yesterday, the 43-year-old was remanded in custody for eight days by a Nicosia court.
Police arrested him two days ago but later released him after they could not find any evidence against him.
However, he was picked up the next day (Friday) while trying to sell part of the stolen goods to a jeweller in Larnaca.
On the way to the police station, the suspect took out the card from his mobile phone, chewed it and threw it out the car window.
He was searched by officers who found a silver ring with a zircon stone in his underpants.
The suspect claimed it was the first time he laid eyes on the ring and later he said he had bought it from someone in Nicosia.
The ring, worth around €60, was subsequently identified by its owner as being part of valuables worth €400,000.
It emerged yesterday that the suspect, along with the wanted man, had done a four-year prison term together for similar offenses
Also yesterday, a Nicosia court remanded a 29-year-old Romanian national in custody for six days in connection with dozens of burglaries carried out in Nicosia.
The man had been arrested at Larnaca airport while trying to leave the country with a bag full of stolen jewellery, watches and other valuables.
The suspect said he had bought the stuff from a Bulgarian man for €7,000.
Authorities estimate that the man is implicated in theft of valuables and cash worth some €300,000.
Through the valuables found in the bag, police have so far linked the suspect to 18 burglaries while the number is expected to rise to at least 40.
The Romanian said he has only been in Cyprus for a short while but could not remember where he was staying.
Police said in recent days they have arrested four different gangs of thieves, resolving over 100 cases.
