Deportation for Israelis gamblers heading for casinos in the north

TWENTY-nine Israelis on their way to gambling holiday in the occupied areas were yesterday deported on the same plane they had flown in on only hours earlier.

The group arrived at Larnaca airport at 9.45pm on Thursday night and told immigration authorities they would be staying at an Ayia Napa hotel.

However, instead of going to their hotel, they boarded a bus and headed straight for Nicosia’s Ayios Dhometios checkpoint.

Police said they had received information the tourists intended to cross over to the occupied areas to gamble at one of the 28 casinos in the north, and the bus was stopped on the Larnaca-Nicosia highway and turned back to the airport, where the party was deported just after midnight on the same plane they had flown in on.

Although tourists are allowed to cross over to the occupied areas to visit and the booking at the Ayia Napa hotel was confirmed, police had received a tip off the Israelis were planning to stay over in the occupied areas, in violation of immigration laws.

“They gave the Republic’s authorities false details on their landing cards by saying they would be staying in Ayia Napa when their visit’s purpose was to go and stay in the occupied north. This act was in violation of the Foreigners and Immigration law and that was why they were deported,” a police spokeswoman told the Cyprus Mail.

This is the fourth time in six months that authorities have deported a group of Israeli tourists trying to cross over to the occupied areas for gambling holidays. No one at the Israeli Embassy was yesterday available for comment.

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.