Cyprus arrests individual on suspicion of terror-related plot, police say
Police in Cyprus have arrested an individual on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage, authorities said on Saturday.
The individual appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries. No further details would be issued, police said, citing national security.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol. The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus’s ANT1 news portal reported.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid a conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran. Terror-related offences on the island are very rare.