Two more arrests in case of issuance of forged permanent residency documents
Police arrested two more persons on Sunday for forgery and supply of false permanent residency documents, in a case under investigation since March.
According to police statement, the suspects are a 65-year-old Syrian man and a 41-year-old Greek Cypriot woman, who were arrested with court warrants and taken into custody. The suspects are expected to be brought before the Nicosia District Court on Monday.
The new arrests bring the total number of arrests for this case to nine, as last Friday, police proceeded to arrest another seven people, who were remanded for eight days.
The charges under investigation are conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to extort, forgery, circulation of forged documents and obtaining registration by false representation, as well as offenses of corruption, defrauding a public official, abuse of power and neglect of official duty.
On March 20 the director of the Limassol citizens service centre reported that between December 8, 2022 and March 3, as many as 20 applications to obtain driving licences appeared suspicious.
Upon further investigation, carried out by the Alien and Immigration Service, it emerged that all 20 applicants presented fake permanent residency permits (MEU2).
Arrest warrants were issued for all. For the same case, a 58-year-old owner of a service office had been arrested and detained.