DNA testing leads to arson arrest

LARNACA Police yesterday confirmed that the use of DNA testing had been critical in the arrest of an alleged arsonist.

In July, a car belonging to Andreas Koutouris was set ablaze in Ayios Ioannis near Larnaca, resulting in over £4,000 worth of damage to the vehicle. On Monday, 24-year-old Lazaros Philippou from Dromolaxia was arrested on suspicion of committing the arson and remanded in custody for five days following the presentation of DNA evidence in court linking him to the crime.

In recent years, new policing methods have been introduced to improve the crime-solving rate, in particular over cases involving arsons and bomb attacks. CID chief Andreas Aristidou recently told the Cyprus Mail that the increased use of DNA testing would help solve such crimes.

The island’s police force started using DNA testing back in 1998, availing of the Genetics Institute’s facilities, which went operational that same year. The first major case cracked using the new methods was that involving the 1997 murder of a French tourist by a local taxi driver.

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.