‘Sword robber’ clocks up five heists in a week

WITH A number of robberies already under his belt, the ‘sword robber’ struck again twice on Friday night in Limassol.

Police thought they had caught the thief during the week. They believed it was a 22-year-old Iranian man who fitted all descriptions of the culprit, and appeared to be the person depicted on various CCTV film footage. However, they were unable to find the supposed weapon on the suspect and released him on Friday.

On Friday night a hooded thief held up a bakery in the Ayios Athanasios area of Limassol just after midnight. He threatened staff with a sword and made off with €80.

Police said that two hours later, the same person entered a kiosk in Yermasoyia and while an employee was otherwise occupied, he calmly opened the till and took €600 before walking out.

The person who police believe to be the ‘sword robber’ struck three times on Tuesday night in Limassol.

The first robbery took place at around 11pm at a kiosk where the thief stole €830.  He struck a second kiosk at around 1.30am, stealing €85 and at 4am the thief hit a bakery, managing to get away with €300. The thief is described as aged 20-25, of normal build and around 1,85m in height, slim with black hair.

Limassol police said yesterday they would be increasing patrols to try and catch the robber, and appealed to the public for assistance in tracking him down, urging them to contact the nearest police station.

Swords have in the last several months become popular among armed robbers.

Last November thieves wielding a samurai sword, and brandishing a gun, robbed a Bank of Cyprus branch in Larnac and getting away with €10,000 from the cash registers.

A month previously, two robbers, speaking broken Greek, threatened staff with a plastic sword, and made off with €25,000 from another bank in Limassol

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