Authorities have detained a 37-year-old Iranian man for eight days in connection with the police killing of a migrant man in Potamia.
The suspect’s vehicle, seized from his Limassol residence, was found to have a bullet hole in its rear, police told the court. Evidence from a 39-year-old man’s statement to Nicosia CID last Saturday implicated both the Iranian suspect and a wanted Pakistani individual in the case.
The wanted Pakistani suspect, aged 27, is believed to be the mastermind behind a human trafficking ring that has been smuggling migrants through occupied territories into government-controlled areas via Potamia since October.
Investigators will examine the suspect’s telecommunications data and collect approximately 30 witness statements. They will also investigate the Iranian man’s residency status in Cyprus, where he is married to a Cypriot woman and is father to one child.
Chief Inspector Yiannos Yiannakou of Nicosia CID told the court that police are currently searching for four individuals: three Turkish Cypriots from the same family and a 27-year-old Pakistani national.
Questions remain over why authorities are not seeking a fourth Turkish Cypriot who was arrested in the occupied areas whilst attempting to travel by boat in a double-cab vehicle bearing bullet marks, despite his confession to involvement in the incident.
Regarding the death of 24-year-old Shoaib Khan, the 39-year-old suspect has revised his statement, admitting that Khan was already dead when shot in Potamia, and that he transported and abandoned the body on Calypsos Street in Acropolis.
The incident occurred near the buffer zone near Potamia on January 6. Initial police reports indicated the shooting occurred while officers attempted to stop a vehicle believed to be involved in a smuggling operation. However, forensic findings suggesting the man was shot in the back have raised questions and contradicted the initial police account.
Moreover, an initial autopsy of the man’s body ruled out foul play. A second autopsy, performed a few days later, found a 9mm bullet lodged in the man’s back. State coroner Dr Nicolas Charalambous who performed the fist autopsy has been suspended.
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