Police target human trafficking rings

POLICE arrested 23 illegal migrants in Nicosia and Limassol in the early hours of yesterday morning. Half of those arrested are believed to be human traffickers, said police.

Deputy Chief of Police, Michalis Papageorgiou, told reporters yesterday that 14 people were arrested in Nicosia and nine in Limassol. “From initial indications and facts before us, 12 are traffickers, from which, two are asylum seekers,” he said.

Asked how they got to the government-controlled areas, the deputy chief said there was not enough evidence yet, but initial estimations were that they came from the north and through the British Bases on to Nicosia and Limassol.

Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides said human trafficking was a “permanent issue” that troubled Cyprus.

Asked how many trafficking rings bringing migrants to Cyprus were in operation, the minister said despite efforts to tackle the rings head on, “new rings turn up every time”.

“There is money circulating as a result of the trafficking of illegal migrants and as such, the phenomenon repeats itself and continues,” he said, adding that the authorities’ efforts were “mainly to identify these rings and reduce their involvement in the trafficking of illegal migrants”.

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