The car bomb which killed 53-year-old investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta two weeks ago has highlighted the frightening frequency with which explosives are placed under cars and outside homes in Cyprus.
So regular have these attacks become that they rarely merit more than a news brief in newspapers.
Unlike the tragic death of Galizia, bombs in Cyprus are rarely to harm but more to intimidate and frighten, deputy police spokesman Stelios Stylianou told the Sunday Mail.
They often stem from differences between groups dealing with organised crime including drugs, ‘protection’ services, outstanding debts, competing businesses or cases where someone may have been cheated out of money.
“If we’re lucky, then the bomb won’t explode and we have a better chance on gathering evidence about the person that placed it,” Stylianou said.
Until September this year, there had been 11 attempts to destroy property by explosives, statistics by the police reveal. Eight of those were on cars and three on premises which include homes and businesses.
In 2016, the number of attacks spiked to 30, an increase from the previous year’s 22. In 2014, there were 21, while in 2013 the number was at 32. In 2012 and 2011, there were 30 and 31 attempts respectively. The figures do not include arson attacks.
This month alone, however, the car of deputy chairman of the football association Giorgos Koumas was destroyed in an arson attack while earlier this week, a bomb was placed underneath a rented car.
Attacks are particularly prevalent in Limassol.
“The arrest of the (non-commissioned) officer of the national guard in Limassol last month, has helped quiet things down a bit in Limassol, I believe,” Stylianou said.
The 44-year-old suspect is believed to be connected to at least two bomb attacks. A testimony against him also claims he had stolen explosives from the unit he was stationed at.
In cases where the car is torched or a bomb does go off, evidence related to the investigation is often entirely obliterated by the flames.
What creates more of a stumbling block however are people’s refusal to cooperate. It might be because the intimidation has worked and they are too frightened to talk. In other cases, the victims may be from the underworld who choose to say they don’t know what’s behind the attack because they intend to take matters into their own hands, Stylianou added.
Even more common is that “the perpetrators aren’t usually the people that have differences with anyone but people that are just following orders.”
Navigating through the maze requires finding the person behind the person who placed the bomb which is usually difficult as people’s silence can also be bought for a price.
“Many times, people are brought from abroad to carry out the acts,” Stylianou added.
High profile attempts of silencing or intimidating also hit the news. Last year, two cars parked in the garage of the home belonging to chairwoman at the time of Hellenic Bank, Irena Georgiadou, incurred extensive damage after one was torched.
In 2015, arsonists targeted a vehicle that was parked outside the home of Bank of Cyprus CEO John Hourican in Nicosia.
Unlike Malta, journalists in Cyprus are rarely the victims.
“There are attempts to silence journalists in Cyprus but they take on a different form,” head of the Cyprus union of journalists George Frangos told the Sunday Mail.
“The threat usually comes in the form of financial loss – if you write against us there will be no money [advertising],” he said.
“Or if you go against a political party, they will find a way to suffocate you in terms of circulation.”
These threats are relatively common but physical threats in the form of arson, bombs or anything of the like are rare, he added.
One such incident did take place last year, however, when a car belonging to journalist Dina Kleanthous, the crime correspondent for online portal Reporter was torched.
Back in the 1980s a bomb was placed outside the home of Alithia editor Alecos Constantinides.
One woman, who used to run her own business and did not wish to be identified, said irrespective of how much time passed since a bomb was placed under her daughter’s car – in an attempt to frighten her – the question of why still haunts her.
The woman told the Sunday Mail she had no run-ins with the underworld, no outstanding debts and felt that she got on well even with competitors within her line of business. She did not wish to make many details public out of fear of being identified.
“One time, I went abroad – it was a very last minute trip, very few people knew I had travelled. And after a business meeting, I was out for dinner and I got a call saying a bomb was placed under my daughter’s car.”
Her daughter at the time was also abroad for a long period of time and the business woman would use both her own car and her daughter’s interchangeably.
The bomb had gone off between 12am and 1am. “It was a time when had I been in Cyprus, it would’ve been normal for me to get in the car and drive to the kiosk to get a pack of cigarettes, or some milk for the next day.”
The blast was so loud a nearby business owner, who had just opened the door to go home, had to go to the doctor for his ears. The whole of his store was smashed.
“My mother, who lives nearby heard the blast. For a long while, she couldn’t sleep until she knew every single one of us was back home and she could see all the cars parked in the garage,” she said.
“I couldn’t sleep all night because I kept wondering who and why.”
But it was only when she returned to Cyprus that what had happened really sunk in.
“I can’t ever forget though when I saw the damage. Half the car was missing. You don’t realise what happened, it hadn’t fully hit me until I saw the scene for myself.”
Nevertheless, the intimidation didn’t scare her, she said.
“I arrived in Cyprus in the morning and the very same night I was back at work. I refused to let it defeat me.”