Limassol District Court has remanded a 24-year-old in custody for six days over the armed robbery at a couple’s home in Sfalangiotissa, after he allegedly admitted that he went to collect stolen property and hold on to it on the instructions of one of three people still wanted in the case.
The value of the stolen property is now put at more than 300,000 euros, according to examinations so far. Police have recovered about 70 pieces of jewellery, which are being kept for further examination.
Five other suspects, aged 25, 24, 27, 20 and 29, are already being held on eight-day remand orders.
How he was caught
Investigators received information that part of the stolen property, specifically jewellery, had ended up with an unsuspecting person in Limassol. The person’s home was placed under surveillance because an associate of the robbers was expected to go there to collect the jewellery.
On the afternoon of Thursday, 22 October, the 24-year-old arrived and was stopped by members of Limassol CID and the Crime Prevention Unit (OPE). According to evidence obtained, one of the arrested suspects had taken the stolen goods to the unsuspecting person after the robbery.
The robbery
The robbery took place in the early hours of 8 October. According to evidence presented at the earlier remand hearing, the robbers 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 a safe. Cash and gold were taken from it.
The robbers stayed in the house for 39 minutes, according to CCTV footage, and had allegedly entered the house earlier that night without the couple waking up.
A red Mazda was recorded repeatedly passing near the house, according to the evidence. Also on Thursday afternoon, police stopped the car with two of the suspects inside and found the other three at a house in Limassol. One of the five, also aged 24, denied taking part in the robbery but allegedly told investigators that the 25-year-old suspect had told him he took part with others and that they had shared out the stolen goods.
Investigation continues
So far, 11 statements have been taken and five searches carried out, in which a number of exhibits and part of the stolen property were recovered. Investigators have collected and assessed CCTV footage. They will also check footage from the area around the home where the jewellery was taken, and investigations are expected to continue in Paphos district, where the 24-year-old lives.
About 15 more statements are expected from people in the suspects’ work and social circles and from others linked directly or indirectly to the case and to the place where the stolen property was found. Supplementary statements will be taken from the complainants, and police are expected to apply for a court order to access telecommunications data.
Two identity parades and scene reconstructions are planned, and efforts continue to find the rest of the stolen property.
