Nicosia, Cyprus. The defence on Tuesday challenged the police account of the circumstances surrounding the arrest of two suspects in a retrial concerning the alleged possession of 15 kilograms of cocaine. The case is being reheard by Nicosia criminal court after the earlier conviction of Giorgos “Mavrantonas” Christodoulou was overturned on appeal.
Retrial after appeal ruling
Christodoulou had previously been convicted of possessing 15kg of cocaine with intent to sell and was sentenced in December 2022 to 22 years in prison. That conviction was recently overturned by the appeals court, which ordered the case to be retried from the beginning.
He has pleaded not guilty in the new proceedings.
Focus on 2019 arrests
Tuesday’s hearing examined events on January 16, 2019, when police arrested Aristos Kyprianou and Yiannis Andreou on narcotics possession charges.
The arrests took place in Lakatamia at Andreou’s residence.
Andreou had initially been sentenced to 16 years in prison in the same case. After serving four years, he was granted a presidential pardon. In the current trial, he is appearing as a prosecution witness.
Police testimony and evidence
The prosecution called two drug squad officers who took part in the operation. An army-style bag, presented as an exhibit and alleged by police to have contained 14kg of cocaine, was shown in court.
Police said the bag was found inside Kyprianou’s car, which was parked outside Andreou’s house at the time.
Drug squad officer Erotokritos Panayiotou told the court that he was outside Andreou’s residence on the day of the arrests and saw Andreou and Kyprianou arrive in Kyprianou’s vehicle.
According to his testimony, the two men entered the house with Kyprianou carrying the army-style bag. A short time later, Kyprianou came out holding the same bag, returned to his car, and placed it on the passenger seat.
Panayiotou said officers who had been surveilling the suspects then made the arrests.
Officer account of suspect statement
According to the witness, Kyprianou told him the bag contained 14kg of cocaine and pointed out the packages inside it.