Car bomb kills Larnaca man

POLICE were yesterday still struggling for clues to the Sunday murder of a 46-year-old man, killed by a car bomb as he left his holiday apartment in Larnaca.

English Cypriot Heraklis Ioanni Kouzoupis, alias Ricky, was killed when he set off a booby trap by putting his car into reverse.

The victim was critically injured in the morning blast, and firemen had to cut him out from the wreckage of mangled steel in which he was trapped.

He was rushed to Larnaca hospital, but died shortly after being admitted. Noone else was hurt in the explosion.

Police found two passports in Kouzoupis’ flat, which show that he travelled a lot. He arrived in Cyprus two months ago, posing as a sales representative.

Police are understood to know little else about the man that could help investigators in their task. He is not thought to have been involved in any criminal activity in Cyprus, though one police source described the victim to the Reuters news agency as a “man of the night”.

“We suspect (the killing) may be related to drugs trafficking,” the source was quoted as saying.

There was also speculation yesterday that police were investigating the possibility that Kouzoupis may have fled the UK because of fraudulent financial dealings in London. Interpol had been contacted for any information on the victim, reports said.

Police said yesterday a number of people had been questioned in connection with the killing, but the only worthwhile lead concerned possible connections the victim had with a group in Limassol. They did not elaborate.

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.