Corrupt police involved in the quadruple Ayia Napa murder cases sent texts to members of the mafia identifying police movements, according to an independent investigation.
The probe was launched after it emerged that a Nicosia detective had made a telephone call to a Serbian hitman hired to carry out the murder of Ayia Napa mafia boss Fanos Kalopsidiotis.
Attorney-General Costas Clerides appointed former Supreme Court judge Andreas Paschalides, and ex-police officers Panayiotis Pelagia and Agamemnon Demetriou to investigate the allegations of police corruption.
Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said it was up to the independent investigators to handle the situation and that he is preparing new legislation to fight systemic corruption in the force.
Public danger
Three other people died in the crossfire in the crowded restaurant; hitman Jan Vogli, and two off-duty police officers, whose two children narrowly escaped being shot by hiding under a table.
Kalopsidiotis escaped no less than two other attempted contract killings in the last four years.
Who is behind this blatant violence and why is it taking so long for police to find the masterminds?
It was an open secret that Kalopsidiotis was suspected of being heavily involved in drugs, betting and protection. Contract killers targeted him twice before he was murdered, once in June 2012 and once in March, 2016. How did these miraculous escapes happen?
Murder attempt #1 – 2012
On June 23rd, 2012, five of Kalopsidiotis’ bodyguards were brutally murdered in the middle of Ayia Napa. By a strange coincidence, Kalopsidiotis was not in the luxury car in which his bodyguards died. The Greek hitmen who were caught right after the murders are serving five consecutive jail terms each, but they missed their prime target – Kalopsidiotis.
No one else was prosecuted in this case.
Murder attempt #2 – 2016
The police would then have the public believe that a second attempted murder was thwarted by ‘mistake’. According to a report by Phileleftheros newspaper, in March 2016, a Nicosia detective received a tip-off from Interpol that Kalopsidiotis was a target of a contract killing by Serbian criminals.
Instead of using the information to capture the criminals, the officer called the hitmen – by accident, according to police claims. The officer intended to call Interpol in Serbia but by some unexplained ‘error’ called the hitman, say the authorities.
As a consequence, the contract killing in March was called off, and Kalopsidiotis escaped yet again.
But the people who wanted Kalopsidiotis dead didn’t stop there and he was finally executed in June this year in a crowded restaurant in Ayia Napa. One of the hitmen, Aleks Burreli (pictured right), is still on the loose and still a public danger.
Questions
Why didn’t the police arrest those responsible for ordering the hit in March? They must have had enough information, they had the conspirator’s telephone number, after all.
Why did they have a hitman’s telephone number?
Why was there no information that Kalopsidiotis would be killed on June 23rd, 2016? Is the public now expected to believe that Interpol didn’t do its job this time and pass on the tip about the Albanian contract killers?
Is it possible they don’t know yet who was actually paying these contract killers? Highly unlikely, given the many attempts over the years.
Series of killings
Ten people have already been killed by the shadowy figures behind the contract killings. Yiannos Kalopsidiotis, Phanos Kalopsidiotis, five of their bodyguards in 2012, the Albanian shooter Jani Vogli in June 2016, and two police officers who were eating in the same restaurant when Phanos Kalopsidiotis was killed.
A police officer who is the godfather of one of Kalopsidiotis’ children was also injured in the June 2016 hit on the businessman, showing a cosy relationship between him and members of the force. How far did this cosy relationship go? The officer protected Kalopsidiotis by firing back at one of the Albanian shooters, killing him and sustaining injuries in the process.
What we know so far
Six people are under arrest for being part of the plot in the third contract killing in June and will go on trial in September. There are five locals and one Serb:
- Marios Christodoulou, aka ‘Bennis’ 38,
- Panayiotis Pentafkas, 39, who owns TOGA TOGA strip club in Ayia Napa,
- Sophia Gregoriou, 29,
- 30-year-old Sotiria Neophytou,
- Charalambos Andreou, 32,
- and Serbian national, Loy Dejan, 42.
The arrest of the cabaret owner suggests that there was a turf war or some kind of vendetta involved between Pentafkas and Kalopsidiotis.
Credibility
Whatever the real facts are behind the reason that these six people were not arrested earlier, the police must face the fact that their credibility has been severely impacted.
It’s not looking good for them or the public or the cases they investigate. What credibility will their evidence carry in court from now on?
Either they are so riddled with corruption that they are just an extension of the mafia, or they are making such enormous errors that the mafia can do whatever they please. A shortage of manpower and resources is another possibility, but surely four years and lots of tips from Interpol along the way were enough to gather the evidence needed to find those responsible.
None of these scenarios is acceptable for the public safety, obviously.
The authorities have taken measures to fight corruption, but it’s entrenched in the system and will take a long time to clean up.
It will take just as long for the public to believe in the effectiveness of the police force, unfortunately.
Violent history
The tourist resort of Ayia Napa has a reputation for a violent history linked with organised crime like prostitution, killers-for-hire, and drug dealing.
In June 1993, Swedish national Christine Ahfeldt Constandinidou – who was married to an Ayia Napa nightclub owner – was raped and murdered by Antonis Kitas and Michalakis Thomas Iacovides, both of whom are serving life sentences.
Cabaret dancer Roxanne Lisna was also killed by the two men; kidnapped and murdered from Ayia Napa, where she was staying during a night off from the ‘Magic Palace’ cabaret in Nicosia, reported the Cyprus Mail at the time.
Other press reports from the time say that Kitas claimed that Christine Ahfeldt Constandinidou’s husband – who owns Castle nightclub – had paid a hitman $10,000 to murder her because she cheated on him. As a psychopathic killer, Kitas’ claims were not believed and Constandinides was cleared of Christine’s death.
To this date, it is not known who paid Kitas to murder the two women. Kitas has a lifetime of crime behind him at the same time as being a police informant. He remains active behind bars and was convicted of more crimes, including stealing former president Tasos Papadopoulos’ body from his grave. He has never had a problem with money, even paying a private hospital tens of thousands of euros for six months treatment in 2008/09.
In 2009, Kitas escaped from prison by running away from the hospital and spent a month hiding out in Paralimni, where his family have a house. Two police officers were suspended on suspicion of helping him to escape. Warder Socrates Socratous was later arrested for accepting bribes from Kitas.
The convict’s name is synonymous with police corruption and serious crimes.
Public safety
Whatever the motives behind the most recent murders, it is clear that the underworld in Ayia Napa are doing what they please, and the public’s safety is in danger until the authorities get the situation under control.
