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Remands for two men linked to suspected contract killing

police vehicles arrive at a court, where a remand order was issued against a man suspected of plotting to murder israeli businesspeople on the island, in nicosia
Azeri suspect being taken to court earlier this month (File photo)

Two men, aged 25 and 32, were remanded for eight days on Saturday in connection with the earlier arrest of a 38-year-old Azeri man, suspected of arriving in Cyprus to carry out contract killings on foreign nationals.

The two suspects were arrested on Friday in Limassol during investigations into the case concerning the Azeri, who was arrested last month.

The Azeri, a Russian passport holder, was arrested on September 27 a few days after arriving at Larnaca airport as a tourist before going to the north. He is suspected of planning to kill Israeli nationals. He was arrested after crossing from the north through the Ledra Street checkpoint. In his possession, police found a loaded pistol equipped with a silencer, believed to have been acquired in the north.

This week, a second gun linked with the Azeri was handed over to the police by daily Politis, after a Greek Cypriot man, who said he was staying in the same hotel as the Azeri in the north, delivered it to the newspaper. The man according to Politis had seen the Azeri hiding something behind an air-conditioning unit but thought nothing of it until news broke of the man’s arrest in the Republic, and he retrieved the object.

So far four arrests have been made in connection with the case, including a 27-year-old delivery man, after it emerged, he had telephone contacts with the key suspect. According to Politis, it is the person who provided the Azeri with a delivery company uniform so that he could move about without any suspicion while executing his plans.

Police believe the man is part of a Russian mob and came to Cyprus to carry out a contract killing against a foreign businessman who lives and works in the Engomi area of Nicosia. Reports said the 38-year-old had rented a room in a house in Engomi.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou would neither confirm nor deny the reports when asked to comment on Thursday.

 

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