Man arrested in Paphos with seven lighters and flammable liquid, say police

Police in Paphos said they arrested a 25-year-old man on Sunday after he was found next to a lit fire in a field, and was allegedly in possession of seven cigarette lighters, and a container of flammable liquid.

A police bulletin said the man was spotted by an off-duty officer who was driving in his own vehicle on a Paphos road near the village of Tala around 1pm. The man was sitting next to a small fire a short distance from the road, it said.

Alarmed that the fire might spread, the off-duty policeman stopped and questioned the man who said he was from Paphos. The officer called colleagues to the scene and the suspect owned up to having seven lighters on his person, police said.

A subsequent search of the suspect’s car, which was parked nearby, revealed a plastic container with flammable liquid, police said. The 25-year-old was arrested pending investigations.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.