Police arrested a 32-year-old man in Larnaca district on Monday after finding more than a kilo of cocaine, much of it hidden in plastic containers, and 21,100 euros in cash believed to come from illegal activity.
Officers from the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DAOE), the Anti-Drugs Unit (YKAN) and YPEE stopped the car he was driving in a rural part of the district at about 5pm. They found two cylindrical packages of cocaine on him, with a combined gross weight of 100 grams, and 16 firecrackers in the car.
The biggest find was in an open area near his home, where he had also been seen earlier. A plastic container carefully hidden in the ground held 11 bags of cocaine with a combined gross weight of 826 grams.
In a second open area, where officers had seen the man before the stop, they found another plastic container holding two bags of cocaine with a combined gross weight of 100 grams.
A search of his home turned up a glass jar containing about eight grams of cocaine, four packages holding about six grams of cannabis, a small amount of cannabis resin, precision scales, a grinder with traces of cannabis and the 21,100 euros.
All the items, along with four mobile phones, were seized as evidence for further examination.
The man was taken into custody and was expected to appear before Larnaca District Court on Tuesday morning for a remand hearing. The arrest was part of efforts to track down people systematically involved in drug trafficking. Larnaca DAOE-YKAN is continuing investigations.
