THE Nicosia Central Prisons were on red alert all yesterday evening after scores of convicts took over and barricaded an entire cell block to prevent two inmates from being sent to isolation.
In addition to the 130 wardens already on duty at the prison complex, another 220 – including some who were on leave – were ordered back to work by Justice Minister Loucas Louca .
Louca had rushed to the prison along with the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Andis Tryfonides, the CID and anti-riot squad MMAD. Fire engines were also on standby as a precautionary measure.
The stand off lasted for six hours and it was only after 11pm that emergency services began to pull away from the prison compound.
Late reports said the blockade ended when the authorities reached a deal with the inmates to secure their surrender and return to their cells.
No injuries were reported on either side but much damage was caused.
Behind the initial riot were the notorious drug-running Akhtar brothers who attacked a 60-year old Arab prisoner at around 5pm in Block 1B.
When two wardens on duty went to stop the attack and take the brothers to isolation, other Greek Cypriot prisoners joined the Akhtar’s in shoving the officers out of the block.
The 100 or so inmates then set up barricades at the entrance using their beds and mattresses.
In an attempt to flush them out, prison authorities cut the electricity to the entire prison complex, but the stand off was still going strong five hours later despite the strong police presence.
State television reported being able to hear the ruckus from outside the prison grounds.
Deputy Prison Director Christos Mavris met with the Ministry officials and senior police officers to work out how they could gain re-entry to Block 1B.
The prison has been without a Governor since last month when Michalis Hadjidemetriou was suspended pending an investigation into the escape of Antonis Procopiou Kitas, alias Al Capone from a Nicosia clinic where he had been for six months on questionable grounds.
Just as Minister Louca was celebrating the re-capture of Kitas on Monday, and his return behind bars the same evening, more questions are likely to arise with regard to how the central prisons are being run.
Indeed Elias and George Akhtar, 23 and 28, became fugitives in 2007 after attacking five police officers with swords.
They remained on the run until June last year when they were arrested in Mykonos and were sentenced only in October to four and a half and three and a half years respectively. Their father Andreas was sentenced to two years for his part in the case.
