A DRAMATIC car-chase, reminiscent of an action film, took place yesterday afternoon on the Nicosia-Rizoelia-Dhekelia highway.
It all began when two men aged 30 and 22 from Ayios Georgios Acheritou failed to stop when police waved them down for a routine check, instead driving off at high speed. Sirens blaring, the police car pursued them.
The car, which didn’t have number plates, collided with the police patrol car twice but continued moving until finally crashing for a third time, near the Dhekelia Bases, by the Xylotympou exit. The police officers were not injured.
The 30-year old was badly injured and is currently being treated at a private clinic in Paralimni. The 22-year old was taken to the Larnaca General Hospital and treated for minor injuries. He was later released.
Basketball hooligans
A BASKETBALL game between Apollonas and AEL at Limassol’s Apollonas stadium was marred by violence on Tuesday night. According to the report, at around 7.30pm, before the match even began, scuffles broke out between fans from the opposing sides, which were quickly resolved by police intervention. A few moments later, another groups of fans attempted to enter the basketball court without purchasing tickets and one of the groups broke the aluminium door and the glass pane. When the game was over, a group of fans started throwing stones at the other teams’ fans who were heading towards their cars. Police again intervened and quickly put a stop to the violence but not before the windshield of a team official’s car was smashed.
Car bomb
A BOMB exploded inside a car that belongs to a Nicosia company at around 3.35am yesterday while it was parked outside the company owners’ residence. According to a police representative, the car suffered extended damages, the cost of which has yet to be estimated, as well as the owners’ residence and many other residences in the same neighbourhood. Luckily, nobody was hurt. Police members are still conducting investigations.
People smuggling
POLICE arrested 18 Syrian illegal immigrants at around 10pm on Tuesday. According to the report, police began following two suspicious vehicles driving near the Pyla – Pergamos area acting on a tip-off. They first located a small bus in the area of Kalo Chorio in Larnaca with a Syrian driver who was transporting another 13 immigrants. Police later stopped another car at the intersection of Phaneromenis and Nikos and Despoina Pattichi Avenues, driven by 32-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker Metin Yentikaya, who was transporting another four Syrians. Yentikaya was arrested along with the Syrians. Yentikaya, who arrived in the country 18 months ago and works at construction sites, claimed that a friend of his told him to go and pick up a group of people in Oroklini and take them to Limassol where they can find work, never mentioning the fact that they were illegal immigrants. Yentikaya is in police custody while procedures for the deportation of the 18 Syrians have begun.
Sports tourism
THE AYIA Napa Municipality is seeking to upgrade the Ayia Napa Sports Centre as part of his goal to develop winter sports tourism. According to reports, Mayor Barbara Perikleous, along with representatives of the Forest Department, the Urban Planning Department, the Cyprus Athletics Organisation and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation discussed the subject of removing the necessary forest land for the creation of new facilities. The Municipality and the Cyprus Athletics Organisation have taken on the assignment of preparing a list of necessities while the Cyprus Tourism Organisation will be co-funding the effort. The Municipality and the groups will be meeting again in 10 days to decide what works must be done.
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