A turf war between criminal gangs demanding protection money from Larnaca businesses has spiralled out of control, with police leadership facing fire from all sides — including from within its own ranks — over months of alleged inaction.
The crisis came to a head on Saturday when shots were fired just 100 metres from Larnaca Police Headquarters, endangering innocent civilians. Video footage captured men with axes and crowbars attacking people and vehicles outside a fast-food restaurant.
But Saturday’s shooting was not an isolated incident. Criminal networks have been terrorising business owners through threats and beatings for months to seize control of the lucrative protection racket trade, according to information that keeps coming to light.
Two weeks before Saturday’s violence, a criminal group demanded €7,000 upfront for protection from a business, then €1,000 monthly, the court heard during remand proceedings for suspects.
The battle has been raging for months and is linked to criminal activity from last summer.
Phileleftheros reported in a 20 August 2025 front-page article titled “The underworld awakens in Larnaca” that organised crime had returned to target the city after several quiet years, listing incidents between 14 July and 15 August including three attempted murders, vehicle shootings and a car arson.
Larnaca Police made at least seven arrests for some of these crimes, but most cases remain without identified masterminds.
Around the same period, criminal networks began operating as strike teams to change control of protection rackets, an illegal activity that has existed for years across all cities but which no one dared tackle.
The difference in Larnaca is that the battle between rival factions has spiralled out of control and now threatens public safety.
On Monday, philenews published revelatory testimony showing how a criminal group began approaching business owners in the tourist area of Oroklini around two months ago, demanding money even from kiosks and souvlaki shops.
“They were very provocative and in some cases caused traffic problems with their cars. We were told that the police were also informed,” the source said, requesting anonymity.
Yesterday Phileleftheros received another complaint that a criminal group recently blocked traffic on a central commercial road in Larnaca with cars to intimidate owners of a well-known dining establishment and demand protection money.
All this happened in plain sight and was known not only to victimised business owners but also to a large section of Larnaca residents, many of whom have been asking on social media: “What is the police doing?”
The question is why police leadership did not give orders months ago for decisive measures. Unless the answer is that they didn’t know, which would be even more problematic.
The court heard during the remand hearing of the 48-year-old suspected criminal network leader that police were only informed on 16 January 2026 that the man, along with 15 people, went to an entertainment centre in Larnaca and told security guards they were taking over its protection. The following day the same group reportedly went to another nightclub.
“We should be ashamed”
Nikos Loizides, president of the Police Branch of the ISOTITA trade union, caused a stir yesterday by calling for the President of the Republic to intervene, arguing that despite mapping organised crime, there is no plan to tackle it.
Speaking on Sigma’s morning programme, he pointed out that many incidents similar to Saturday’s are kept from the spotlight. “This happened because there was video. Do you know how many of these things happened in the last 12 months and remained hidden? So journalists won’t find out, so we won’t show our weakness as a police force, because some people won’t take responsibility to step forward and drag their police officers with them.”
He added: “We’re down to the wire. Organised crime is working on top of us, instead of us working on top of it. We’re protecting colleagues at night so they don’t get played. They beat up our colleague a month ago and it stayed hidden. The issue isn’t knowing about it and mapping it and coming out with fanfare saying you’ll put boots on the streets. Do you have a plan? What is it? Did you move secret services from one district to another at night so organised crime doesn’t know who’s coming?”
Commenting on philenews’s revelations about Oroklini, he argued that some people only care about protecting millionaires. “When the time comes we’ll say a lot. We should be ashamed today to be saying ‘you know, we have organised crime mapped out, but on the other hand we can’t keep up with events.’ Do you know what that means? Either you’re corrupt or you’re sleeping standing up. Right now we’re losing 5-0 to the underworld.”
Five in court, three still wanted
Larnaca District Court yesterday placed five people under eight-day remand in connection with Saturday’s shooting. Larnaca CID received information linking the suspects to the incident, with four admitting they were at the scene and one claiming to have an alibi.
The lawyer for two suspects, Panagiotis Hadjipanayiotou, objected to the eight-day detention, pointing out that his clients were in the area by chance and questioned why those seen on video hitting people and vehicles with axes and crowbars were not arrested.
The case investigator, Athanasios Charalambous, replied that CCTV footage is being evaluated and those seen committing offences will be questioned by police.
Two brothers are among those arrested, whilst their brother is also wanted. Two other foreign nationals remain wanted. The 48-year-old Cypriot is also under eight-day remand and is hospitalised after being struck on the head.
The video that circulated shows people with axes and crowbars hitting other people, whilst two shots were fired outside the fast-food restaurant.
