The man who was arrested at the Kyrenia port in connection with the death of 24-year-old Shoaib Khan was released on bail in court in the north on Thursday.

The man had been attempting to leave the island from Kyrenia, but was then arrested at the port, with the Turkish Cypriot police finding a bullet hole in the side of his car, which he had attempted to paint over.

In court on Thursday, Turkish Cypriot police sergeant Cemil Basri explained that the suspect was the person who drove the four third-country nationals towards the village of Potamia from the adjacent village of Louroujina, which is located in the north, on the evening of January 6.

He added that Khan was then found dead in Strovolos on January 6, and that the suspect was arrested on January 15 at the Kyrenia port, with his vehicle having been seized as evidence.

He then said a mobile phone was found on the suspect’s person upon his arrest, but that the phone used during the incident has not yet been located.

On the matter of Khan’s status in Cyprus, he said the Republic’s police had sent a letter to the Turkish Cypriot police identifying him, and that a check of the records had found that he had entered the north on November 29, 2021 on a tourist visa, but that there was no record of him ever leaving the north thereafter.

Prosecutor Behrat Mavioglu then said the suspect could be sentenced to up to five years in prison if found guilty.

Judge Nuray Necdet forbade the suspect from leaving the north and ordered that he pay a bail of 60,000TL (€1,617) in cash and that two guarantors sign bonds worth 400,000TL (€10,782). He must also report to a Turkish Cypriot police station at least once a week.

The north’s continuation of its own proceedings against the suspect appear thus far to have put paid to the Republic’s request that he and three others – 62-year-old Halil Alaslan, 31-year-old Coskun Alaslan, 22-year-old Atilla Alaslan – none of whom have been arrested, be handed over.

The Cyprus News Agency had reported that while the suspect was not initially named as a suspect by the Republic’s police, he “has been of concern” to them in the past.

Both Halil Alaslan and Coskun Alaslan have publicly denied all wrongdoing.

With court proceedings continuing on both sides of the island, a clearer timeline of events is now developing, with Greek Cypriot police representative Yiannos Yiannakos having explained much of what is believed to have happened after the four third-country nationals crossed to the Republic in court on Tuesday.

Speaking at the hearing of a 37-year-old man who was arrested in the Republic on Monday, he said the 39-year-old who had been arrested last week had “admitted” to being a member of a smuggling ring.

He said the 39-year-old had made “specific reference” to a man named Ali, with whom he goes to the Potamia area to transport people into the Republic, and has done so since October last year.

Yiannakos said that on the day of the incident the 39-year-old received a phone call from Ali, telling him to pick him up from his home in Nicosia so they could go to Potamia to pick up some migrants.

The 39-year-old reportedly added that they then stopped at a kiosk in Potamia and Ali got into a white vehicle, before the two men in the two cars met a black pickup truck. He then conversed with the people inside, telling them which vehicle to get into to be transported to Nicosia.

Yiannakos said that after that conversation, Khan got into the back of the 39-year-old’s car, before the suspect then spotted a white pickup truck belonging to the police. He then immediately heard two gunshots.

“Upon hearing the shots, the white vehicle moved at speed towards the police vehicle with the intention of hitting it, while the 39-year-old then did the same,” Yiannakos said.

He explained that the white vehicle is registered as owned by a woman, but it was being driven on the day by the 37-year-old suspect, and was later found outside his home. Additionally, he said, a hole was located on its right side which appears to have been caused by a firearm.

The 39-year-old had initially told police that Khan was “alive, walking, but looked like he was drunk” when he was left in Strovolos, but according to Yiannakos on Tuesday, he has “changed his claim” and now claims he left Khan dead in Strovolos.