Five suspects have been remanded in custody for eight days over an armed robbery at a couple’s home in Sfalangiotissa. Cash and gold worth 100,000 euros were taken from a safe in the early hours of 8 October.
The suspects are aged 25, 24, 27, 20 and 29. Police are still searching for two wanted people and another person whose identity is being sought.
The robbery
According to evidence presented in court, the suspects had allegedly entered the house earlier that night. They were recorded on CCTV leaving through the balcony door at around 1am and jumping over the fence. The couple did not notice them and did not wake up.
The robbers then entered the house again and stayed for 39 minutes, according to the CCTV footage. They bound the husband with tape and plastic cable ties, threatened him with knives and a pistol, and told his 36-year-old wife to open the safe. They were recorded leaving through the balcony door and escaping over the fence.
CCTV and arrests
A red Mazda was recorded on CCTV repeatedly passing near the house, and footage from a petrol station shows one of the wanted people in its passenger seat, according to the evidence. Minutes before the robbery, the same car was recorded stopping outside a kiosk in Mesa Geitonia, where one of the wanted people bought tape that, according to the case evidence, was used to tie up the couple.
The Mazda was placed under surveillance, and police stopped it on Thursday afternoon with the first and second suspects inside. A search of a house in Limassol found the other three suspects, along with clothing and tools that are being examined for any link to the robbery.
A cleaver that allegedly resembles one seen in the footage from the house was found in a BMW, searched with the consent of the 27-year-old suspect.
Second suspect’s account
The second suspect, aged 24, denied taking part in the robbery. He allegedly told investigators that the 25-year-old first suspect had told him he had taken part in the break-in with others, and that they had shared out the stolen goods.
The 24-year-old said that before the robbery he had been at a house where the 27-, 20- and 29-year-old suspects lived, together with the two wanted people. He claimed that the 25-year-old later told him that the third and fifth suspects had gone to the couple’s house with the two wanted people and another person whose identity the authorities are seeking. The 29-year-old suspect had allegedly fitted a door at the couple’s home in the past.
Stolen goods and weapon still sought
Investigators are still looking for the stolen cash and gold and the firearm the robbers allegedly used. Telecommunications data checks, identity parades and scene reconstructions are planned.
The authorities are also trying to identify the person to whom the stolen property was allegedly handed over, and will consider seeking an arrest warrant once they have done so.
