Escapee from police custody jailed until trial starts (updated)

A 34-year-old man arrested after escaping from Paphos police station months ago was on Wednesday ordered to stay in jail until October 12, when his trial will begin.

The man has been wanted since February, and was picked up during a routine traffic stop around 9pm on the Rizoelias – Ayia Napa highway on Tuesday, when police identified him.

The driver of the car, a 49-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy after the fact.

In February, two men, both of Russian origin with Greek passports escaped from their cells at the main Paphos station. They were named as Alexandros Sarkisides, aged 28, and Ernai Kozmiov, aged 34.

They had been arrested on suspicion of committing 40 thefts from cars and houses and were being detained in holding cells.

According to reports at the time of the escape, they may have had help from the inside. Police acknowledged that mistakes had been made.

Sarkisides was picked up a few days after the escape after he had broken into an apartment in Paphos and fallen asleep.

He reportedly broke into the apartment and then lay down on the bed where he was seen asleep by someone who thought he looked like one of the escapees.

This person called the police, and also told them the main door of the apartment had been broken in, who went to the scene, where they found Sarkisides asleep.

After the escape of the two detainees on February 5, a female officer was suspended following a decision of the police chief.

It said suspicions against the officer arose when the investigators checked the CCTV cameras of the detention facilities covering the period when the escape took place.

The material, according to the Paphos-based media, allegedly showed the officer had engaged in disciplinary misconduct.