It is expected that red notices will be issued in the coming days to locate and arrest the two suspects wanted in connection with the contract killing of a 55-year-old former convict. A person of Arab descent currently in Dubai is believed to be the mastermind behind this latest underworld plot, which was thwarted at the last minute.
The order to carry out the contract was given from Dubai, and it is alleged that behind it lies a financial dispute amounting to 2.5 million dollars in bitcoins that arose following the repayment of a debt between business partners of the two men in July 2026. The Arab man refused to pay the 55-year-old the commission he had promised him for his mediation and traveled to the UAE.
The suspect, who had previously been on friendly terms with the complainant, allegedly offered 800,000 euros to have him killed within 48 hours.
The contract was entrusted to a 36-year-old Bulgarian man, with the additional incentive of securing legal residency in Cyprus for himself and his daughter.
The Bulgarian, who had been deported from Cyprus in 2014 and returned illegally in April via the occupied territories, was recruited to plant an explosive device in the businessman’s vehicle. The bomb was to be detonated by remote control while the victim was outside a nightclub or hotel in Limassol. The Arab man assured him… “Don’t worry about the police—they’re on our side…”
The plans went awry when the 36-year-old—a former employee of the businessman at a nightclub—had a change of heart and informed the victim. The Bulgarian, who is cooperating with the police, may well become a witness for the prosecution.
The 48-year-old man arrested as the mastermind behind the contract killing had, until recently, been in custody as a defendant in another organized crime murder case in Nicosia. To carry out the job, he turned to a 70-year-old man to whom he had sent Semtex-type explosives to be connected to a detonator, which he, however, deactivated when he learned who the target was.
The 70-year-old informed a Nicosia CID officer about the assassination plot, as well as the 55-year-old with whom he had maintained a friendly relationship since their time at the Central Prisons. Also under scrutiny by investigators from the Cypriot FBI is the claim made by the 48-year-old to the complainant when he was called in for questioning—that the bomb was not intended for him, but rather two businessmen in Limassol.
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See the report by Christoforos Nestoros:
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