Two years for man caught smuggling opioid pills

The Larnaca-Famagusta assize court sentenced a 27-year-old Indian man to two years in prison on Monday for possessing and attempting to smuggle 2,390 opioid pills.

According to the court ruling the drug squad had received information on June 5 that the 27-year-old along with one other person would be arriving from India and attempt to smuggle a large quantity of controlled c-class drugs into Cyprus.

Upon arriving at Larnaca airport, the two men were placed under surveillance as they collected two pieces of luggage and a backpack from the luggage belt. They were stopped at the customs office near the exit of the airport.

X-ray scans found that the 27-year-old’s luggage contained 1,000 pills called Clavidol 100SR hidden inside a folded jean trouser. In the luggage of his co-traveller, 1,390 identical pills were found in a nylon bag. In total, the pills weighed 960.8 grams.

Tests conducted on the pills by the state general laboratory found that they contained 100mg of the substance tramadol, which is an opioid analgesic with a high risk of addiction.

In his statement to the police, the 27-year-old said he came to Cyprus with his wife in 2017, attended a private college in Larnaca and had a residence permit in Cyprus until August 2 this year.

The 27-year-old admitted his guilt, and told police that he had attempted to smuggle the pills into Cyprus knowing that they were banned since he had developed an addiction to them after they were administered to him following a leg surgery he had undergone in India three years ago.

He told police he went to India to buy and import them into Cyprus, adding that the pills found in the luggage of his co-traveller, a friend and roommate of his, are also his own and he had placed them in his co-traveller’s luggage without his knowledge.

In making its ruling, the court said it took into account that these pills were intended to be used as medication, as well as the 27-year-old’s attempts to kick his addiction to the pills during the time he has been detained in the central prisons.

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