Escaped killer arrested in the north

A TURKISH Cypriot convicted rapist and murderer who escaped from Nicosia’s Central Prison almost 18 months ago was arrested on drugs charges in the occupied areas.

Turkish Cypriot ‘authorities’ yesterday confirmed Panayiotis Netzadi was in custody after he was arrested in possession of 1kg of opium.

He was one of five people arrested during five different operations carried out on the same day, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reported.

Netzadi escaped from the Central Prisons in October 2007. In May 2008 police had received unconfirmed information he had crossed over to the north from Pergamos armed with guns and explosives where he was allegedly arrested and remanded in eight day custody.

The 34-year-old was convicted in August 2007 for the abduction, rape and murder of 20-year-old Janka Kovacova on August 17, 2006. He abducted the young Slovak during the early hours from outside the Grecian Bay hotel in Ayia Napa where she had been employed as a waitress for the summer.

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.