Joint police operation seizes 17.7kg of cocaine in fruit container

Police on Tuesday seized 17.7 kilos of cocaine and made two arrests in a drug bust carried out in cooperation with Greece’s police (Elas), Sovereign Base Area (SBA) police and customs.

In an announcement, police said they had been tipped off by their Greek counterparts on July 19 that drugs were hidden in a container with fruit originating from Ecuador, with Cyprus as the final destination.

The two law enforcement agencies agreed on a controlled delivery of the container in Cyprus.

The container arrived at Limassol port on July 26 where, with the help of customs, the controlled delivery got underway. The following day, the container was transferred to a fruit warehouse in the SBAs, near Akrotiri.

There it was kept under round the clock surveillance. At around 2am on Tuesday, two men aged 40 and 46 were seen cautiously approaching the container, removing the metal lid and taking the packages with the drugs.

SBA police with the help of police from the Drug Squad, Ykan, intervened and arrested them.

In a separate announcement, SBA police confirmed that two males were arrested in the early hours of the morning in the vicinity of Asomatos for serious drug offences.

“The SBA police are committed to tackling organised criminals who cause the most harm within our communities. We work closely with partners to combat the highest risk organised crime threats which causes violence and intimidation throughout its supply chain,” Superintendent Constantinos Petrou of the SBA police said.

The case is being investigated by SBA police in cooperation with Republic of Cyprus and Greek police.