Three people are under arrest for aiding illegal entry into the Republic while two foreign nationals who were in the car with them have been taken to the Pournara reception centre after telling police they intended to seek asylum here, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The arrests followed a police car chase from Larnaca to Strovolos where police were finally able to stop the vehicle.

Police officers on patrol on Tuesday evening became suspicious after spotting three individuals with suitcases in an open area in the Larnaca district.

The area was placed under surveillance. Minutes later, a car with two individuals approached, the three individuals climbed in, and the car drove off. Police followed the vehicle and signaled to the driver to stop near Rizolelia roundabout. However, the driver sped off, police in pursuit, managing to cut him off in Strovolos, Nicosia.

Police investigations determined that the driver was a 25-year-old man who was arrested for reckless and dangerous driving and failing to comply with a police signal. There were four others in the car, aged 25, 34, 37 and 20.

Two of them, men aged 37 and 20, were found to have entered the Republic illegally, arriving at an illegal airport in north Cyprus from where an individual transported across the green line.

They told police they intended to apply for asylum, and they were taken to Pournara. The three others were arrested to facilitate investigations into a case of conspiracy to commit an offence and helping illegal entry to the Republic.

Police investigations continue.