Man held after traffic camera trashed

A MAN was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday in a village in the Limassol district on suspicion of vandalising a traffic camera.

Police say the incident was carried out with malicious intent, and the 24-year-old suspect has been remanded in custody.

The incident is said to have taken place at 8am on Sunday, just over a month after the cameras came into operation. According to a complaint, an individual stopped his car at the traffic lights between Omonia Street and Paphos Street in Limassol and, using a metal rod, smashed the camera lens.

The traffic camera system was finally put into operation in September this year with the initial grace period lasting three weeks before fines were handed out to perpetrators from October 11, after nearly a year of delay and uncertainty.

This is not the first case of vandalism against traffic cameras, as there were reports of paint thrown onto a camera in Larnaca in January this year, some time before they came into operation.
Ayios Ioannis police station in Limassol is investigating the incident.

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.