A man from Pyla was gunned down outside his home on Tuesday night with preliminary police investigations pointing to a gangland murder.
The victim has been named as Giorgos Georgiou
Investigators believe he was shot from a distance of around 130 metres and say the shooter then escaped in a car on the Larnaca-Ayia Napa motorway
According to police, Georgiou had just parked his car outside his home on the main road leading into the village when he was targeted with multiple gunshots at around 8.40pm. He died instantly while his father and a friend – who were also present – escaped unharmed.
The 40-year-old victim had troubled police in the past with investigators suspecting that he may have been connected to the criminal underworld while residents in the area had previously expressed concern over the gambling den operations and casinos in the area.
According to media reports, Georgiou operated a casino in the area.
The murder scene had been sealed off by both the police and the UN while state pathologists Nicolas Charalambous, Sofocles Sofocleous and Angeliki Papetta all arrived on the scene.
Police sniffer dogs have also been in seen in the area.
Georgiou had been shot in the heart and shoulder.
The village of Pyla is special in the respect that it is the only settlement in Cyprus still inhabited by both its original Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot inhabitants. According to a latest census, 850 of the inhabitants are Greek Cypriots and 487 are Turkish Cypriots. There are around ten casinos in the area. Because of it’s status it is not policed by the Republic of Cyprus authorities.
It is a UN controlled area but the force cannot execute the duties of the Police thus allowing gambling joints to operate.