TWO separate cases involving drug trafficking resulting in the arrest and remand of three people in Larnaca and another three in Nicosia, were described by police on Friday as “very serious”.
“These two separate cases are extremely serious,” Drug squad YKAN spokesman Stelios Sergides said, announcing the busts at police headquarters on Friday.
“They are significant not only because of the quantity of drugs discovered, but because of the people involved.”
“There appear to be two separate drug trafficking gangs, which sell drugs on to Cypriot users.”
Sergides said statements would be taken while a request was put in for the lifting of privacy of telecommunications under the data protection law so that the suspects’ phone records could be accessed.
In the Larnaca case, following a tip off, police raided a hotel room occupied by a 46-year old Dutch national. Drug squad officers found just over a kilo of cocaine in 82 egg-shaped bags which they believe had been carried through customs at Larnaca airport in the suspect’s stomach.
The police then carried out a sting operation with the cooperation of the suspect and having replaced the drugs with a substitute substance. This resulted in the arrest of the two other suspects, aged 37 and 26, both Sierra Leone nationals.
Eight-day remand orders were later secured at Larnaca court on Friday with police saying they planned to get in touch with Interpol to further investigate the Dutchman’s journey to Cyprus through Brussels.
Meanwhile, in a separate case at Nicosia district court, three men were remanded for eight days for conspiracy to commit a felony, illegal possession with intent to supply and illegal cultivation of cannabis after they were arrested and around 10 kilos of cannabis were seized by police on Thursday night.
Members of the drug squad raided the Ayios Pavlos home of a 43-year old businessman at 8.20 pm, discovering eight packages containing nine kilos of cannabis in the courtyard of the house.
An 80cm cannabis plant was found growing in the garden.
A search inside the property, in the presence of two other men, aged 51 and 57, yielded a further 700 grammes. The 43-year-old’s car was also found to contain traces of the drug.
The trio deny any wrongdoing.
