Two persons were placed under arrest on Thursday in connection with the gruesome discovery of two charred bodies in a car in Limassol, while authorities also identified and named one of the victims.

In a statement late on Thursday, police said they made two arrests, of two men aged 19 and 23. They are being detained.

Authorities meanwhile also identified one of the two victims in the burnt-out car, found in the Limassol district on a dirt road between Pareklissia and Kelaki.

The victim was identified through his DNA, after an earlier lead that he was a person who had gone missing from his home.

Police named this person as Andreas Kouzoupis, aged 39, from the village of Arakapas.

Detectives are meanwhile trying to identify the second victim. Citing its sources, state broadcaster CyBC said this person is thought to have been a friend or acquaintance of Kouzoupis.

Post-mortems on the bodies of the two victims corroborated that the immediate cause of death was gunshot to the head.

Limassol CID is investigating.

Authorities are gathering and reviewing CCTV footage from the area in a bid to retrace the victims’ steps, information that could shed more light on the case.

Earlier in the day, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis and police chief Stelios Papatheodorou were briefed over developments at the city’s central police station.

Officers had turned their eye to people reported as missing after information was being evaluated that an individual who had not returned home may have been one of the victims.

“Investigations are underway to see if any of the two bodies is linked to this missing person. We hope there will be a result over their identity,” police spokesman Christos Andreou had said.

Andreou also said the fact that the vehicle was set on fire made things more challenging in identifying who it belonged to.

“It is an Opel Astra from 1992 – 1998. Anyone who has any information can contact police.”

Hartsiotis and Papatheodorou were briefed on the course of investigations, as well as other Limassol cases.

This includes the 40kg of cannabis bust as well as violence unfolding between certain families in Limassol.