Larnaca police is conducting intensive investigations to clarify the mystery surrounding approximately 20 bullets of various calibres found yesterday in the toilets at Larnaca General Hospital.
The bullets were found in a plastic bag in the women’s toilets at the Outpatient Clinics by a hospital cleaner.
Larnaca CID members rushed to the scene and collected the items, finding amongst them tracer rounds, dummy rounds and live cartridges of various calibres, including 7.62 ammunition used in National Guard military rifles.
The National Guard was informed, according to philenews, to determine whether the bullets came from a military camp and whether the material is issued to sentries.
This scenario is considered remote, however, as amongst the bullets found is ammunition of a specific calibre not issued to soldiers.
The seized items have been sent for ballistic examination and specialised DNA tests in an attempt to lead police to the person who left the bullets in the toilets.
Police are investigating the list of patients who visited the outpatient clinics whilst awaiting the specialised test results.
Speaking on Ant1’s midday programme, SHSO press spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said Larnaca Police were informed immediately when the bullets were found. He said that worldwide, hospitals are spaces for treating patients, not detention centres.
“Hospitals are neither prisons nor correctional institutions where you check at the entrance whether someone is carrying a pistol, weapon or bullets. They are hospitals,” he said, pointing out that there is police presence at hospitals.
“Hospitals are not detention centres where you conduct body searches on everyone who enters,” he added, emphasising that this does not happen in any country in the world.
Asked whether the movements of the person who left the bullets were captured on CCTV, he answered that cameras are not in all areas and where they do exist, there is no image retention as this requires permission from the Data Protection Commissioner.