19 remands after immigrants found in container

NINETEEN people appeared in court yesterday after the discovery of a group of 17 immigrants in a container at Limassol port on Tuesday afternoon. It is believed they had bought their way onto the Greece-bound tanker in an effort to leave Cyprus.

Two Pakistani men, suspected of having transported the group appeared before Limassol District Court yesterday. One of the suspects denies any involvement in the case, while the second admitted that he transported the immigrants from Nicosia to Limassol Port.

The second man claimed he was acting on the instructions of a third Pakistani man, who paid him €100 for each immigrant he transported to port.

The duo was remanded as police investigations continue into a case that indicates the existence of an organised human trafficking network operating from Cyprus.

The group of 17 also appeared in a Limassol Court yesterday and were all remanded. In their statements to police, they said that each one of them would pay €4,000 to a contact in Athens who was supposed to pick them up from Piraeus port.

The people, all central Asian nationals, were found huddled in the container of a commercial ship, which docked at Limassol port on Tuesday afternoon. The ship bears a Cypriot flag and was due to depart for Piraeus port yesterday at 4pm.

Of the 17, one is a Sri Lankan woman. Twelve of the 16 men are from Pakistan, three from Bangladesh and one Indian. Ten of the 17 people had been living in Cyprus illegally, while the remaining seven were legal immigrants.

The discovery was made after police received a tip-off and went to the port to conduct a search. During questioning, the group told police that two Pakistani men aged 27 and 40 who are permanent Nicosia residents had taken them to the port.

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.