President Nikos Christodoulides offered reassurances on Thursday that there was no threat to state security in the wake of an ongoing police investigation into a criminal group, known to have used forged state seals and to have impersonated officials.

“It seems at first glance that some are taking advantage of our fellow people who are facing difficult times,” he said in response to questions from journalists in Limassol.

He added that it was necessary to give time for the police investigation to conclude and that further arrests were to be executed.

Publicly available information on the case has thus far been sparse, with a police spokesperson later on Thursday only able to confirm to the Cyprus Mail that members of the public who had contact with the three people who are under investigation were speaking to police about the “types of actions” taken by the trio.

The spokesperson added that “everything is under investigation”, and that investigations centre on the alleged creation and running of a criminal organisation.

Two of the three people linked, a 62-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman, have already been arrested, while a warrant has been put out for the arrest of a 45-year-old man – since named as Costas Patsalides from Limasssol.

Earlier, police spokeswoman Kyriaki Lambrianidou had told CyBC that the group in question posed no danger to the general public, despite professed military links, and that they are not armed.

Speculation arose after media reports emerged on Wednesday that members of a “hierarchically” organised group of around 80 persons were posing as military officials, postmen and legal functionaries, while submitting documents bearing falsified seals of the Republic of Cyprus, using United States military insignia, and pledging allegiance to the US flag.

Police had been following the group’s activities and complaints against individuals for several months, Lambrianidou said.

She added that the police are not able to name the exact number of those involved in the illegal activities, but did say that those involved seem to be targeting persons with loan debts.

The group presents itself on social media as the “Army of the Fourth Flag” according to a report in newspaper Phileleftheros, and reportedly “publicly reject adherence to regulations of the Republic of Cyprus”.

The newspaper added that those involved have fostered “a culture of intimidation”.

The group’s supporters appear to be persons in debt due to non-performing loans. The case came to the fore at the end of January when a law firm filed a report to the police on behalf of their client who had acquired a repossessed property.

During their appearance before the Nicosia district court on Tuesday, the 62-year-old reportedly claimed to be a US citizen “in a sense”, while also claiming ties to the US government and specifically to US President Donald Trump.

“I am not a person, I am an entity,” he told the court.

The two suspects represented themselves before the court.

Police are expected to investigate the extent to which extortion had taken place as well as seeking information from international authorities as to any activities extending abroad.

The suspect who is still at large is alleged to have posted on social media overnight, speaking out against the police’s handling of the case.

The affair began to unravel after a law firm representing a client – who had just acquired an apartment via auction – filed a complaint to authorities last year.

From what was heard in court this week, the new owner had hired the law firm to help him evict the apartment tenant – the 43-year-old female suspect – as she was allegedly violating the tenancy contract.

At some point subsequently, the 62-year-old suspect as well as the wanted 45-year-old paid a visit to the lawyer handling the case on behalf of the apartment owner. They wore shirts emblazoned with ‘US Department’, told the lawyer they belonged to the ‘Army of the Fourth Flag’ and claimed the tenant was under their “protection”.

According to the lawyer, the two men used military and legal jargon and would often ‘sign’ documents with their fingerprints.

This type of activity came up in other cases where these individuals would claim to represent people with non-performing loans and where the loan contract had since been transferred from the bank to a credit-acquiring company.

At various times these individuals would cite unknown treaties or laws. One of the cases had come to the attention of Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC). A member of the CPC spoke of documents bearings seals of the Republic of Cyprus which appeared inauthentic.

In one such document, the individuals spoke of “violations of their organisation’s manifesto”, Phileleftheros said. In other correspondence with a credit-acquiring company involving a problematic loan, the individuals would invoke the US Department of the Treasury.