Police and inspectors from the health ministry raided two stores in Latsia and Nicosia central, they said were selling controlled substances for which they did not have a licence.

According to police, the raids where CBD, THC, and HHC products were found, were conducted on Wednesday and Thursday at the two stores, for which they had received anonymous testimony, and had secured search warrants.

Police and the health ministry confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that in order to sell CBD products, a licence must be given by the pharmaceutical services.

The health ministry said that the problem was that the shops did not have the appropriate licencing to sell the products.

At one store police found, 91 packages of products containing CBD oil, which will be investigated further.

At the same store, they also found 400 packages of products containing THC, and 40 products containing HHC, both compounds that can be found in cannabis products, as can CBD, which is not psychotropic. THC is illegal in Cyprus but the status of HHC is unclear in terms of drug laws.

The health authorities seized six of the THC products for further investigations.

At the second store, police found 262 packages of products containing CBD and 285 containing THC and HHC.

Twenty-six packages were seized for further testing.

According to the health ministry’s website, in Cyprus, the pharmaceutical services have in December 2016 categorised CBD as a pharmaceutical product.

“Therefore, any request/application for the trade of CBD products in Cyprus should first be submitted to the pharmaceutical services,” the ministry said.