Aeroporos brother, 32, gunned down
By Martin Hellicar
ANDROS Aeroporos, a member of the notorious Kolossi clan, was gunned down outside a Limassol cabaret in the early hours yesterday, the apparent victim of a gangland hit.
Nineteen-year-old Ukrainian artiste Olena Kulyk was also hit by two bullets in the 3.20am machine-gun attack outside the Show Palace club in the Yermasogia tourist area.
She was in a stable but serious condition in hospital last night.
The 32-year-old victim and his brothers Hambis, 35, and Panicos, 25, were last month acquitted of charges of attempting to kill gambling club owner Antonis Fanieros in Larnaca on May 29 last year.
Police pulled out all the stops in an effort to track down yesterday’s killers, drafting officers from Nicosia to help their Limassol colleagues in the manhunt.
Police said a burned out Mazda saloon found near Moutayiakka village outside Limassol shortly after the shooting was the vehicle used by the hit- men. The car had been stolen from a showroom earlier in July.
Yesterday’s attack was seen as part of a long-running feud between underworld gangs vying for control of lucrative gambling, prostitution and drugs rackets.
Father-of-two Andros was shot shortly after leaving the Show Palace with Kulyk, a club employee, and getting into his Ford Escort that was parked outside, police said.
“As soon as Andros moved his car he was shot at from a car in which there were two hooded men,” a police statement read.
The victim’s car was riddled with 28 bullets.
Andros was hit six times and died instantly, while Kulyk was hit in the hand and stomach. She later underwent emergency surgery in Limassol General Hospital.
The shooting was reportedly witnessed by two persons standing on the steps of the club, who told police the hit-men, in a dark car, shot at Andros from behind his car and then drove round to the side of the Ford to let off another round. A police source described the attack as a “well-planned hit.”
Not long after the attack, the fire brigade was called out to deal with a burning car on the edge of a cliff outside Moutayiakka. Police said the Mazda car had apparently been doused in petrol before being set alight and firemen were unable to put out the blaze before it completely gutted the car. A statement later in the day said all indications were that it was the car used in the killing.
Commenting on yesterday’s murder, government spokesman Christos Stylianides admitted that the island did have an organised crime problem, and called on the public to help police fight crime.
“In order fully to combat crime, which creates a very negative picture of our society abroad, we need the co-operation of the public,” the spokesman told his daily press briefing.
Ironically, Justice Minister Nicos Koshis, speaking on a state TV current affairs programme on Thursday night (less than five hours before Andros’ murder), said a police crackdown had succeeded in forcing underworld figures to behave.
Andros is the second member of the Aeroporos clan to be killed in the suspected gangland feud.
In October 1995, his uncle, Onisiforos “Foris” Onisiphorou, was killed outside his gambling club in Limassol’s notorious Heroes Square. A sniper hidden in an unused building directly opposite the first floor club shot him with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Andros’ older brother, Hambis, narrowly survived a machine-gun attack in 1995. Hambis had to undergo extensive surgery in Israel after being shot outside a Limassol nightclub on June 17.
Eight other people fell victims to bomb attacks, suspect car accidents or shootings as the feud raged out of control in 1995.
After a 10-month lull, Petros Yianakou was killed by a car bomb in Paralimni in September 1996. A district judge and his young daughter were injured in another car bomb blast soon after.
The feud died down again until May last year when Fanieros was seriously injured in a drive-by machine-gun attack outside his gambling club.
Andros and his two brothers were implicated in the attack on Fanieros by Tassos Simellides, who was convicted as get-away driver for the attempted murder. Simellides named Hambis as instigator, Andros as architect and Panicos as hit-man for the attack.
But on June 19, after a year-long trial, the Assizes court dismissed Simellides’ testimony and freed the Aeroporos brothers.
