POLICE are looking into all scenarios, including the war over online casinos, to establish a motive for the Ayia Napa shoot-out, which left five dead in the early hours of Saturday.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides yesterday said forensic tests on evidence gathered from the scene were expected the latest by today. The tests, in combination with information from the public and intelligence gathered from recent crimes, would determine the course of investigations.
Angelides said this would be soon.
In the meantime speculation has been going into overdrive, with some reports claiming the killings were due to rivalry between Nicosia and Ayia Napa underworld gangs over the mushrooming online casinos.
“This is a serious possibility, but we have other information also that we are investigating with regard to the motive behind the crime,” said Angelides. “There is quite a large flow of information for this crime, which is being assessed”.
Apart from one eye-witness account – an inebriated British tourist, who led officers to where he said he saw the culprits waiting for the victims’ car to drive past – and other witnesses who said they saw the car being followed by a man on a moped, police have also received a large number of calls from the public.
State broadcaster CyBC yesterday reported that CCTV footage from nearby pubs showed there was just one hit-man, who had two lookouts monitoring the car. The same footage showed all three leave the scene on foot, in different directions.
“Because there were five victims, each one is being investigated separately, on their relations or implication with any other situations,” said Angelides.
Asked if the aim of the killers had been to get to the victims’ employer – four of them were part of a Famagusta businessman’s security team – Angelides said: “This is also a possibility that is being investigated quite seriously.”
Five men – three Cypriots aged 28, 33 and 35, and two Romanians aged 25 and 33 – were killed when the black BMW they were in was sprayed with bullets at a little after 3am on Saturday.
The driver had attempted to escape by scrambling out of the car, but was shot dead a few metres away. The car came to a stop when it hit another parked car.
The killings, unprecedented for Cyprus, occurred on a side street in the heart of Ayia Napa’s nightclub scene, near the popular Russian Red Square Bar and Aqua Club.
The director of the Ayia Napa-Protaras Regional Tourism Board, Lakis Avraamides, who has expressed grave concern over the impact the incident would have on the district, yesterday said it seemed to be business as usual.
“It seems it didn’t have a negative effect, on Saturday or Sunday, on foreigners,” said Avraamides. “Those who were most concerned were Cypriot parents. On the night of the killings, there were many students and pupils in the town who had just finished school.” But he said the town was buzzing normally on Saturday night.
“People seem to have understood that this didn’t have to do with Ayia Napa, as such,” said Avraamides, who added that there had so far been no cancellations or messages of any sort from tour operators.
Avraamides said insufficient policing in the district was a given and something local authorities had been highlighting for years.
“Ayia Napa definitely needs more policing, especially during the summer months, when movement reaches 40,000 to 50,000 people in the evenings,” he said.
He said some evenings the rapid reaction unit (MMAD) was sent to the district, but pointed out that something more permanent was needed.
“The killings possibly couldn’t have been avoided, but other violations definitely could,” said Avraamides. “This happened in the centre of Ayia Napa; if there were more police on the roads, this could have been avoided. But no one can say for sure. What is certain is that we need more police.”
Police spokesman Angelides yesterday said the force was making new plans for the Famagusta district, following the murders.
“Even though there are increased duties, due to the presidency (which starts on July 1), we will take more measures,” said Angelides. “Always in the summer period, increased measures are taken and reinforcements are sent to the area. But in view of the crime, new measures are being taken. The manpower that needs to be sent will be sent.”
Cyprus Mail