A man who was allegedly sent 820 grams of Semtex to kill a Limassol businessman disabled two detonators after realising who the target was, according to the businessman’s statement to investigators, details of which philenews has obtained.
The ex-convict and businessman gave his statement to investigators from the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DAOE) on 6 November. According to the information, it describes financial disputes worth millions and alleged orders and pressure from Dubai.
Police asked Nicosia District Court on Wednesday to remand four suspects for eight days over the alleged plot. Two other people are wanted.
Police warning
Police told the businessman on 13 September that a crime was being planned against him, according to the information. He expressed surprise, saying he had received no threats, and his vehicles were searched and protective measures put in place.
The detonators
In his statement, the businessman describes what a 70-year-old man he knew from their time in the Central Prison allegedly told him in a WhatsApp call on 14 September.
According to the information, the 70-year-old said that on the evening of 12 September a 48-year-old man, the first suspect, had sent him 820 grams of Semtex through another person, to be used against the businessman.
The 70-year-old allegedly told him that when he realised who the target was, he decided not to go ahead because of their friendship, and cut the detonator wire, making the bomb unusable.
When the 48-year-old was told the detonator did not work, he allegedly flew into a rage, shouting that the ‘job’ had to be done within an hour, citing pressure from a person in Dubai, one of the two people wanted in the case. A second detonator was then allegedly sent to the 70-year-old through another person, and he destroyed that too, according to the information.
Call with the first suspect
A few days after police warned him, the businessman spoke by phone to the 48-year-old, using the phone of a friend of one of the wanted men, in the Agios Antonios area of Limassol, according to his statement.
The businessman allegedly asked the 48-year-old whether he had any involvement in the plot, and he denied it. The 48-year-old then allegedly asked whether the 70-year-old had told him, although the businessman had not mentioned him. The businessman said police had told him and, according to his statement, pretended to believe the 48-year-old’s explanation.
The money
A large part of the statement concerns two financial matters linked to the two wanted men, according to the information.
The first involves a 250,000-euro commission that a relative of the businessman was demanding from a foreign businessman over a property purchase. The second wanted man, the one in Dubai, allegedly asked the businessman to intervene so that his relative would drop the demand. The businessman said he did so, his relative sent the foreign businessman an apology and dropped the claim, and the second wanted man allegedly sent him 10,000 euros as a gift.
The second matter involves a debt owed by a partner of a friend of the businessman to a partner of the first wanted man. According to the information, 2,469,500 USDT was paid in July 2026 through the businessman’s mediation. He then tried to contact the first wanted man to claim a commission he said had been promised to him, but got no reply.
The following month, the second wanted man allegedly called the businessman and asked him to send a message to reassure the first wanted man, as the two had business pending and did not want their relationship disturbed.
The former employee
Towards the end of October, a close friend allegedly told the businessman that a 36-year-old former employee of his nightclub had said the first wanted man had paid people to kill him and that he himself had been involved.
The two met at the businessman’s home, where the former employee was emotional and allegedly told him what he knew, according to the information. He allegedly said that before leaving for Dubai, the first wanted man told him he was going there to pay people to kill the businessman.
In his own statement to investigators, the 36-year-old allegedly said that while he was working for the first wanted man, the man told him he had made 2.5 million euros from Bitcoin and had fallen out with the businessman over money. He allegedly said in English that he would kill the businessman, that he had plenty of money and would pay someone a million to do it.
In early September, the first wanted man allegedly contacted the 36-year-old and told him he would need him for a serious ‘job’. In one conversation he allegedly said the businessman would die, and said that the next day he would put him in touch with a very powerful man.
The following night, the first wanted man allegedly set up a video call between the 36-year-old and a man who introduced himself as ‘A’. According to the information, ‘A’ said he would send an explosive device for the 36-year-old to place in the businessman’s car during a night out or while he was at a hotel in Limassol. The 36-year-old would then set it off by remote control while the businessman was inside the car.
In a later call, the first wanted man allegedly told the 36-year-old to take the job seriously, saying he had already paid 400,000 and would pay more later.
The 36-year-old said he never wanted to go through with it and had tried, without success, to reach the businessman. He said repeated calls from the wanted man left him so anxious, and so afraid that someone would harm him, that he smashed his phone by throwing it on the ground.
