The four Palestinian suspects at the centre of the Larnaca terrorism case are expected to be referred directly to the Criminal Court tomorrow, as investigations near completion and new details emerge linking the key suspect to a Hamas training camp in Malaysia.
The four men — aged 32, 38, 54 and 57 — will appear before Larnaca District Court in closed proceedings, where they are expected to be committed for trial before the Criminal Court.
The 32 and 38-year-olds, considered Hamas operatives who allegedly planned terrorist attacks on Israeli targets in Cyprus, are expected to face heavier charges.
The 54 and 57-year-olds were not directly linked to the explosive-making materials.
According to Phileleftheros sources, the 38-year-old is the pivotal figure in the case. He is believed to have entered Cyprus illegally in recent months — estimated to have come via the occupied territories — reportedly to manufacture explosives and identify targets.
The 38-year-old is also central to the arrest of the 37-year-old in Crete last Saturday. The man detained in Greece confessed that he and the 38-year-old were together at a Hamas camp in Malaysia in August 2025, where both trained in explosives manufacturing. According to Greek media reports, the 37-year-old also claimed the 38-year-old funded him.
Cypriot and Greek authorities are aware of at least one further figure common to both cases, who is believed to have played an even more central role in what has been internationally described as a “European network” of Hamas. That individual appears to have been present in a major European country, whose authorities have been notified.
“There is a continuous exchange of information with the authorities of many countries, as happens in all such cases,” an official source told Phileleftheros, adding that all evidence indicates terrorist attacks on Cypriot soil were prevented.
The role of the 54 and 57-year-olds — both Cypriot citizens who have been in Cyprus since the mid-1980s and had no prior record of concern — remains unclear. Police have said the son of one of them does not appear to be implicated. Phileleftheros previously reported that the son serves in a unit dealing with foreign nationals.
The 32-year-old’s role is clearer to investigators. He has been living in Cyprus with his wife and child and was connected to both properties searched by police — in Governor’s Beach and Kamares, Larnaca — where chemical substances were found, including ammonium nitrate. Some of the materials are believed to have been sourced from the Cypriot market.
President Nikos Christodoulides commented briefly on the case when asked. “Absolutely no public statement on matters concerning the public security of the country. The only thing I want to say is that all state services work daily, without it becoming a matter of public debate, to protect Cypriot citizens. The security of the country, security across all sectors, is the highest priority,” he said, adding that “there are almost daily matters which we handle without them seeing the light of publicity.”
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