A 38-year-old Turkish Cypriot man was arrested on Thursday after customs officers discovered 399 vials of Botox in his possession at the Ayios Dhometios crossing point.

According to the customs department, the vials were found in a small bag inside a suitcase during a search of the man’s vehicle and were subsequently seized.

The man was arrested, while his vehicle was impounded on the grounds that it had been used to transport the products illegally.

Preliminary investigations indicated that he intended to travel from Larnaca airport to Rome, via a third country.

He was later released after paying an out-of-court fine of €9,000 and a further €1,000 to recover his vehicle.

botox, Ayios Dhometios