Illegals held

THE IMMIGRATION authorities yesterday held 14 people for questioning under suspicion that they entered the country illegally.

A police patrol saw 14 people (three men, three women and six children), walking at 5.45am yesterday towards a hotel on Makarios Avenue in Larnaca. The group are believed to be Palestinian Iraqi asylum seekers who came to the government-controlled areas from Syria and Turkey.

According to Larnaca Press, some came by boat and others through Tymbou airport in the occupied north. It is believed they paid $3,000 each to a smuggling ring operating in Syria and the north to get to EU territory.

Drug remand

FOUR MEN were remanded in custody for eight days yesterday by the Famagusta District Court in connection with charges of drug possession and intent to supply.

The Famagusta Drugs Squad monitored the four men from Nigeria as they allegedly tried to sell drugs in Ayia Napa square. On their return to their flat, the drugs squad moved in for the arrest, finding 534 grams of cannabis inside.

Stone injury

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl from Larnaca was taken to hospital yesterday after being hit by a stone in the chest by another pupil from Limassol.

According to Larnaca Press, the two pupils were spending the night in the mountains as part of an organised trip. In circumstances not yet clarified, a high school boy threw the stone at the girl at around 1am at a hotel in Kakopetria, hitting her on her chest.

She was taken to Nicosia General Hospital for treatment, though her condition is considered out of danger. Police then informed the parents who went to the hospital to be with her.

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.