A CYPRIOT woman is being detained in Syria on suspicion of smuggling ancient coins, the Foreign Ministry revealed yesterday.
According to the head of the ministry’s department of consular affairs Stavros Avgoustides, “the woman was arrested on February 4 based on the information we have from our embassy”.
He told the Cyprus News Agency that the Cypriot embassy in Damascus was informed of her arrest two days later on February 6 by the woman’s brother-in-law. The Cypriot citizen who is married to a Syrian national lives permanently with her husband in Cyprus.
The couple were on a visit to Syria for medical purposes and leisure, said the ministry official, adding that the woman was arrested at the airport in possession of a large number of coins.
Avgoustides said no formal charges have been made yet as the Syrian authorities were still examining her case. The embassy in Damascus contacted the Syrian foreign ministry to arrange to meet the Cypriot national at her holding cell but this did not prove possible.
“An effort was made. They went to a holding cell where they were told she was being held, but she had been transferred elsewhere,” said Avgoustides.
“The case is under investigation and we are monitoring it very carefully,” he added.
The diplomat acknowledged that should the Syrian authorities find the coins to be ancient, then this “certainly makes things difficult” and would likely lead to court proceedings, though he could not speculate on how long this might take.
“I think that soon we will have some indication at least of the charge and what it is based on,” he said.
The embassy can only offer consular assistance, such as helping her to find a lawyer. It cannot get involved in the substance of the case, said Avgoustides.
The ministry is in contact with the woman’s family in Cyprus, while the latter is also in direct contact with the Damascus embassy, he added
Cyprus Mail