Chlorakas landlord arrested for renting to asylum seekers

Police arrested the owner of an apartment building in Chlorakas after he rented flats to asylum seekers in violation of a government decree banning them from residing in the area.

The 69-year-old was arrested after immigration service officers found eight asylum seekers living in the building on Tuesday.

The asylum seekers were charged and released to appear before a court at a later date.

They face fines and or jail time for violating an interior ministry decree banning asylum seekers from residing in the area. The decree came into force at the beginning of the year.

It was issued to prevent further change of the demographics after it transpired that around 20 per cent of the population were Syrians.

Most of the 1,300 asylum seekers living in Chlorakas at the time came from the same village in Syria, which according to officials, created problems to locals and other Syrians.

The area is home to around 4,000 Greek Cypriots.