TWO PAKISTANIS have been arrested on suspicion of having links to radical Islamic groups after a tipoff from a foreign intelligence agency, authorities said yesterday.
Police said the men, in their late thirties were arrested during a raid on their home in Nicosia in the early hours of Wednesday. Laptops and documents were confiscated for examination.
“The information we have suggests that they are linked to Islamic extremists or extremist organisations,” said police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos. The men had been under surveillance for several weeks.
Police said the men had arrived on the island legally on a visitor’s visa but their residence permits expired three months ago. Visitor visas can usually go up to three months, indicating that the two men could have spent up to six months in Cyprus.
Authorities have issued a deportation order against the two, but it has been put on hold while material seized from their home is examined, Katsounotos said.
Asked whether the two were connected to others on the island, he said this possibility was being examined by Nicosia CID in cooperation with other competent departments.
Regarding speculation as to whether the two might have been in Cyprus to engage in unlawful activities or simply lie low, he said the ongoing investigations would reveal more. He added that police would hold them in detention until police could examine all the evidence before them.
Police can hold the two for up to three months on a detention and deportation order, though it is expected they will likely complete their investigations and decide their next steps before then.
Katsounotos was also asked on information regarding other possible connections to terrorist organisations in Cyprus which surfaced around ten days ago on the internet. The question related to a message reportedly posted on a website by al Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, calling for solidarity with suppressed Muslim brothers around the world, including those in northern Cyprus.
Katsounotos said police investigated this website and the message and found nothing of concern.
“The police and particularly the Office for Combating Terrorism evaluated this message and found that there was no reason for concern. For us, as the security authority in the Cyprus Republic, when it comes to the assessment and use of any information before us, we move in every direction to either confirm or reject this information,” he said.
Perched on the edge of the Middle East and home to two British military bases, Cyprus is generally regarded as a safe haven. Its last major security incident was a botched bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in Nicosia in May 1988.
