Man freed after ‘drugs’ turned out to be food

AN IRANIAN man suspected of being a drug-runner has been released without charge. The 51-year-old man, who had been arrested on arrival at Larnaca Airport from Teheran on Friday morning, was freed on Tuesday.

He had been stopped at the airport by officers acting on a tip-off. Nothing was found in his baggage so, with his consent, he was taken to Larnaca hospital for an x-ray. This revealed 12 spherical objects inside his stomach. The man said they were tumours, but doctors dismissed this theory.

The next day he was remanded for eight days by Larnaca District Court on suspicion of trying to smuggle drugs into the country.

The court heard that police would wait for the Iranian to pass the foreign objects so they could prove he was carrying drugs.

But three days later there was still no news, and the man was taken back to hospital for more x-rays. This time nothing showed up, and doctors concluded the 12 ‘drug capsules’ had in fact been undigested food.

The man was immediately released.

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.