Card fraud arrests

Two men were remanded in custody for eight days on Wednesday in connection with card fraud that netted them over €35,000.

The pair, a Ukrainian, 35, and a 32-year-old Egyptian, were arrested in Ayia Napa early on Wednesday morning.

Police stopped the 35-year-old, who was on foot, at 4.15am. They were acting on information from card processing company JCC that suspicious transactions had been taking place at ATMs in the Ayia Napa area.

On the suspect, officers found €5,270 in cash and four cards. A subsequent search of his hotel room, where he was staying with the second suspect, who is a tourist, yielded €29,400 in €50 notes.

Officers also found a laptop, a credit card coding device, and 10 cards – seven counterfeit and three blank.

The men are suspected of stealing the personal data of people living abroad and transferring them onto the blank cards, which were then used at the ATMs.