A 38-year-old Paphos resident was remanded for eight days by the Paphos district court on Friday, one day after the suspect was arrested for the importation of dried poppy pods.

According to the police, evidence against the suspect emerged during an investigation into a package that arrived at Larnaca airport with approximately half a kilo of dried poppy pods.

The police drug squad Ykan stopped the suspect while riding a motorcycle in Paphos and found 1g of powder, suspected to have come from dried poppy pods, during the search.

The suspect was remanded to facilitate investigations. The case is one of a series of actions taken by Ykan this week to combat the importation and trafficking of drugs, particularly opium poppy products.

On Thursday, five people were also issued eight-day remand orders after the police found 20.78kg of dried poppy pods.

In the past two weeks, 30kg of opiate-based substances, largely dried poppy pods, were found in an investigation into an alleged opium ring that operated on TikTok. Most recently, in connection with the suspected ring, a 35-year-old was arrested in Nicosia on Sunday after being found with 10kg of dried poppy pods.