POLICE were furious yesterday over claims that they have messed up yet another drug sting by losing cocaine worth €20,000 and issued a statement saying they would be taking action against Politis newspaper.
The newspaper reported yesterday that the Drug Squad YKAN had funded the purchase of about 230 grams of cocaine to trap a drug dealer but the drugs were then ‘lost’. YKAN were reported to be working together with a person who bought the drugs in Limassol and was supposed to sell on the drugs, trapping the buyer in the process. Instead, the paper reported, the buyer disappeared without getting caught.
According to the newspaper, the Drug Squad then tried to cover up the story and threatened to transfer any officers who leaked any information to the press.
The story “in relation to the supposed purchase and loss of the coke contains no element of truth and is categorically denied,” police yesterday said inviting the relevant authorities “to thoroughly check” YKAN’s finances which would show they never paid for the drugs in question.
“The publication’s mention of supposed threats and transfers of YKAN members so that nothing would leak to the press is ungrounded since two Limassol YKAN were transferred because of the service’s needs. Actually, the interested members had voluntarily submitted an application several days ago,” the statement continued.
Police said they would be raising the issue with the Cyprus Media Complaints Commission.
In September last year, the media blew the whistle on a major drug sting which was seriously bungled leading to the loss of 12 kilos of cannabis.
A Syrian ex-convict, used to smuggle in cannabis from Holland under the protection of YKAN which partly funded the purchase, was instructed to find a Cypriot buyer.
The purchase was arranged for September 10 in Aradippou. However, on the day of the operation the buyer spotted the police and managed to escape by driving through their road block smashing two police cars and injuring two police officers.
At first, the case was kept silent but when it was leaked to the press, the Attorney-general Petros Clerides and police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos contradicted each other.
Clerides said he had no clue about the incident while Katsounotos insisted that as the Attorney-general he would have been informed of any police-sanctioned drug deliveries.
When asked to explain why the incident had not been reported in the media, Katsounotos said it had been filed as a traffic accident.
An investigation was carried out which resulted in Clerides reprimanding the force and advising caution in the future.
“[Sting] operations have taken place, are still being done and will continue in the future to fight the drug trade and drug use,” the police statement said yesterday.
“Every operation comes with an element of danger, difficulty and risk about whether or not it will be successful and no one can tell beforehand what the result would be.
YKAN has recently had many successful cases.”
