Police have gone on high alert in Ayia Napa, the area that saw the region’s biggest crimes of the past 15 years, a quadruple and a quintuple murder, after gunmen ambushed a 33-year-old man in the early hours of Friday. The victim is the brother of a man serving a life sentence for the quadruple murder. Other crimes have been recorded in the area recently, but police consider this attack the most serious, with the potential to disturb Ayia Napa’s delicate balance.
Police sources say the leading theory is that the attackers wanted to send a message to the 48-year-old lifer by killing his younger brother. Investigations and questioning have extended to the Central Prisons, with detectives examining the activities of both the lifer, who runs businesses in Ayia Napa, and his brother, who had no prior involvement with police.
Investigators are certain the attackers intended to kill the 33-year-old, who they believe has a contract on his life linked to organised crime. The method used and the number of bullets fired at his car point to that conclusion, with some shots also striking a neighbouring house. Forensic teams recovered more than 15 shell casings from the scene.
The shooting took place 20 minutes before 6am on Friday in the Kokkines area. The attackers had set up an ambush a few metres from the victim’s home. As he turned right, they opened fire, hitting his car several times but failing to injure him.
Shortly afterwards, a car was found burning in an open area in Avgorou. Famagusta police spokesman Andreas Constantinou said the vehicle, a Volvo with fake registration plates, was linked to the attack. The car had been reported stolen to Larnaca CID in the preceding days. Investigators are examining CCTV footage in an effort to trace the attackers’ movements.
The 33-year-old’s 48-year-old brother was sentenced to four life terms in September 2017 for a quadruple murder committed on June 23, 2016. That attack followed an earlier quintuple murder on the same date in 2012, also in Ayia Napa.
The target on both occasions was businessman Fanos Kalopsidiotis, who was killed in the second attack along with police sergeant Ilias Hadjieuthimiou and his wife, Skevi. One of the attackers involved in the ambush, which took place at a restaurant in front of dozens of patrons shortly after 10pm, was also found dead at the scene.
