Road checks lead traffic police to offenders

A total of 299 offences were uncovered in the first eight months of this year when traffic police stopped cars, the force said on Tuesday outlining how the island’s roads are policed.

“Road policing is a modern, international policing method, which effectively contributes to the prevention of road traffic collisions and more generally in the confronting of crime, with the participation and close cooperation of many departments of the force,” police said in a statement outlining the method.

“The Cyprus police implements road policing to better tackle crime through traffic checks carried out on the roads. The method is based on the fact that persons who commit any kind of crimes or offences, may also be drivers and that traffic police are likely to encounter them on the roads.”

A total of 54 drug finds were recorded with headquarters police leading the statistics with 29 followed by Larnaca with ten, Paphos with five, Limassol four, Morphou three, Famagusta two and Nicosia one.

Of the 34 offences relating to illegal possession of firearms, explosives and weapons headquarters again came top of the class with 24, Limassol and Larnaca had four each, while Paphos had two.

Thirty wanted or missing people were found during road checks with ten in Paphos, nine in Limassol, six by headquarters police and five in Larnaca.

Stolen and illegally possessed items were discovered in eight cases, two each in Nicosia Limassol and by headquarters police and one each for Larnaca and Paphos.

Eighteen stolen, illegally possessed or wanted vehicles were pulled over; five in Paphos district, four each in Limassol and Nicosia, three in Larnaca and two by headquarters police.

A total of seven cases of burglary tools being carried in vehicles were recorded while eight illegal immigrants were rounded up while on the road.

Another 140 various offences were also recorded.

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.