A man appeared in court in the north on Monday, accused of having impersonated a police officer to steal £1,000 (€1,171) from a bureau de change.

Speaking in court, police officer Alpaslan Yavuz said the man had entered a bureau de change in the northern Nicosia suburb of Ortakoy on Thursday.

He told the cashier, “I am Salih, I am a policeman. Do you not recognise me? You have aged,” before saying he wanted to exchange money for £1,000.

He then reportedly took the £1,000 the bureau de change worker gave him, before making off without giving money to exhange while the cashier was dealing with other customers.

The police then examined CCTV footage from the bureau to determine the culprit, before arresting him the same day.

Yavuz explained that the man had been convicted of a whopping 224 previous offences and requested that he be held in custody subject to a trial.

Judge Jale Erguden obliged and ordered that he be held in custody for a period not exceeding 60 days.