Court frees drugs suspect on lack of evidence

A DISTRICT Court yesterday refused to issue a remand order against a 38-year-old suspect in a case involving 5.8kg of cannabis confiscated by Limassol Drug Prevention Unit (YKAN). Meanwhile, a second suspect in the same case is wanted and police suspect he fled abroad.

The cannabis haul was tracked down on Tuesday in an abandoned office complex in the centre of Limassol. Following a tip-of that there were drugs hidden in the derelict building, YKAN officers visited the site where they found the cannabis in a bag hidden in a metal storage box inside the building.

According to YKAN, an eyewitness saw the two suspects, a 38-year-old man and a 28-year-old man, enter and exit the building on several occasions. Although the two men are employees of the company that owns the abandoned building, YKAN issued arrest warrants on the basis of the eyewitness reports and on the fact that both suspects had been involved in drugs cases in the past.

The elder of the two was arrested on Tuesday and appeared before Limassol District Court yesterday. The court, however, ruled that YKAN had not presented sufficient proof linking the suspect to the drugs and ordered for the suspect to be released. Meanwhile, an arrest warrant is pending against the 28-year-old who has disappeared since Tuesday is believed to left the country.

Meanwhile, in a second drugs case, a 22-year-old man from Limassol is in remand for importing half a kilo of cannabis from the UK. The man’s wife, a 24-year-old Limassol woman, arrived at a post office in Limassol on Tuesday morning to receive a package. Based on information that there were drugs in the package, YKAN officers and customs duty officers were on site to search the contents.

When the woman noticed the authorities’ presence, she discarded the package and fled the premises. She was later arrested, but told police that she was not aware of the package’s contents and that her husband had instructed her to receive it.

Her 22-year-old husband was then arrested and he told police that the cannabis was for his personal use and that his wife had no involvement in the case. He appeared before Limassol District Court yesterday, where a four-day remand was issued, while his wife was released.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.