Larnaca CID has stepped up investigations after uncovering a large number of videos showing the degrading torture of seven people inside a so-called “hell office” on the first floor of a casino in Pyla.
The footage is shocking. It exposes another dark and repulsive side of organised crime operating in Larnaca. Police found the videos on the mobile phone of a 48-year-old Cypriot remand prisoner. Prosecutors have already sent him to trial, along with four foreign nationals, over the unprecedented shooting incident in central Larnaca on 17 January.
The 48-year-old has a serious criminal record. Authorities also accuse him of assaulting a member of the public in Pyla just hours before the shooting. A 27-year-old Palestinian national is in custody over the torture case, while police are still searching for another foreign national believed to have been involved, including in the Larnaca shooting.
According to information published by philenews, investigators have so far identified three of the seven victims seen being tortured in the videos. Efforts continue to trace the remaining four. Statements made yesterday in court said all of them suffered savage abuse either to force them to hand over money or to extract confessions to alleged criminal acts against the 48-year-old. Several months ago, unknown individuals set fire to the 48-year-old’s vehicle, while he claims there was also a plan to kill him.
Police say the torture videos were recorded on various dates during 2025. Investigators are also examining more than 3,000 photos and videos found on the 48-year-old’s two mobile phones. Officers describe the investigation as extensive because of the sheer volume of data and do not rule out further arrests in the coming period.
Police thoroughly searched the casino office, seizing multiple items of evidence that have been sent for scientific examination.
The videos themselves document extreme violence. In the first case, a man sits barefoot on a grey sofa, wearing shorts and a short-sleeved top. He speaks Greek. Visible injuries include blows to the head and a swollen right eye. The 48-year-old asks whether he burned his car, then punches him in the head, insults him and spits on him. At one point the victim’s shorts are visibly wet, indicating he urinated during the ordeal. In a continuation video, the same man lies on the sofa while the suspect stands over him, striking his head with the blade of a knife as the victim screams. The suspect then talks about exposing and cutting off the victim’s genitals, spits in his face and knees him in the ribs.
In another case, a foreign national sits on a chair inside the office and begs not to be beaten. The 48-year-old enters holding a metal object and repeatedly strikes him on the head, shouting in English for money. The victim cries as the blows continue and blood starts running from his nose. In a follow-up video, the 27-year-old suspect beats the same victim until he falls from the chair, while the 48-year-old asks whether he will hand over the money. The wanted suspect also appears taking part in the assault.
A third victim sits on the sofa as the 48-year-old forces a gun into his mouth, leaving him visibly in shock. The victim then takes further blows. The suspect holds a mobile phone, appears to show him a photo and asks if he recognises the person. The victim can only answer in single words because the gun remains in his mouth.
In another sequence, the 48-year-old stands over a victim holding a knife and a sharpening tool. He sharpens the blade while demanding to know when the victim will repay what he owes. The victim says he will pay in two weeks. The suspect strikes him in the face, threatens to stab him, then slashes his left hand with the knife blade. In a later video, the same victim sits bleeding from the nose and tries to stop the blood with a tissue before the wanted suspect attacks him again, as the victim pleads for him to stop.
Another man lies on the sofa wearing a short-sleeved top stained with what appears to be blood. Voices shout in Arabic as his trousers and underwear are pulled down. The wanted suspect beats him on the lower body with a belt. The victim’s lips are bleeding.
One victim appears in 16 videos filmed in the same room. He is badly beaten, with blood visible on his lips and face. The voice of the 48-year-old can be heard “interrogating” him about alleged surveillance of his home, which the suspect believed was ordered by someone else to harm him. At one point, the victim clutches his head with both hands as the suspect shouts, demanding to know who sent him to kill him. The wanted suspect and two other individuals then appear, drag him off the sofa and kick him.
In another video, a man sits on the same sofa as the 48-year-old, holding a gold-coloured pistol and a knife, repeatedly demands money. He slaps the victim, spits on him and continues hitting his face with his hands. A second, unidentified person then kicks the victim in the face.
All descriptions of the videos were presented to the court during the remand hearings of the 48-year-old and the 27-year-old. The Famagusta District Court in Paralimni ordered both men held for eight days yesterday.