A 42-YEAR-OLD father and his two sons, 19 and 20, along with their cousin, also 20, and two women aged 21 and 26, were remanded for eight days yesterday by the Nicosia District Court in connection with drug possession and trafficking.
According to drugs squad (YKAN) spokesman Stelios Sergides, officers seized 830 grammes of cannabis in total, although it was not the amount of drugs found that was the issue, he said but the breaking up of the network.
“[The whole case] is considered very important as the drugs were separated into measured amounts so they could be made available on the market,” said Sergides, adding that the majority of users are young people.
The six were arrested on Thursday following a tip off that drugs were being sold by a particular person in an open space in Nicosia. “YKAN placed an undercover officer in the area to monitor the situation,” said Sergides.
Sergides said while the officer was monitoring the area a car driven by the 26-year-old female suspect with a 20-year-old passenger – one of the sons – pulled up. The woman got out and was approached by the officer who made himself knows as a policeman.
As they went to make an arrest, the woman tried to throw away two bags containing what was believed to be cannabis but the drugs were seized by police. The two bags were said to contain 60 grammes of the substance.
Eventually she also handed over half a gramme of cannabis wrapped up in foil police said. The 20-year-old was also found with half a gramme of cannabis on him, Sergides added.
“They were arrested for a flagrant offence and taken to the YKAN offices,” said Sergides.
There, the woman said she got the drugs from the 20-year-old’s father.
No drugs were found following a subsequent search of the woman’s home. However when YKAN conducted a search on the youth’s property they found his 19-year-old brother and a girlfriend, 21, there.
Police said that according to the father, his younger son’s girlfriend – the 21-year-old – had arranged the buying and trafficking of one kilo of cannabis from another district.
The 19-year-old then took the drugs his 20-year-old cousin’s house where they would all – including his brother, and the 26-year-old woman –divide it up to sell in small packets.
The father also allegedly admitted to supplying the 26-year-old woman with drugs and that the 60 grammes found on her during her arrest were part of a bigger batch.
YKAN located 28 packages totalling 770 grammes of cannabis following a search on the 20-year-old cousin’s property.
