Two gunshots outside a busy fast-food restaurant in central Larnaca on a Saturday afternoon cracked open what had been an open secret: the city was in the grip of a brutal war between two criminal gangs fighting for control of a protection racket.
The shooting on Grigoris Afxentiou Avenue — steps from the Police Directorate — at 3:00 pm on 17 January set off a wave of arrests by Larnaca CID that has left ten people facing trial and exposed a trail of torture, attempted murder and a major drugs find.
Five alleged members of each faction are currently defendants. Two businessmen, aged 43 and 47, were separately arrested and charged with interference with judicial proceedings after allegedly trying to persuade a complainant to change his statement. Both are facing trial and have been released on conditions.
The two businessmen had already been targeted by criminal acts the previous summer, and those investigations set off a chain of consequences. At 11:00 am on 31 July, an attacker on a scooter opened fire on the 47-year-old in the Dromolaxia Industrial Area.
The target was on a bicycle and was not hit. In November, a 22-year-old contracted soldier of the National Guard was arrested after DNA evidence placed him at the scene. He is now facing trial.
Police said his phone also contained videos showing he had been watching the target even after the attack.
Those 19 further videos led investigators to four more suspects in January — Men aged 42, 31, 29 and 29, alleged members of a well-structured criminal organisation running a protection racket.
All four are now facing trial on serious charges. Larnaca CID had spent months on the investigation in complete secrecy, focusing heavily on financial checks. Those checks showed, as stated in court, that the assets of most of the accused bore no relation to their declared income.
According to police, the videos on the soldier’s phone captured various incidents from 2023 to 2025 in which he allegedly displayed large sums of cash. In one, he appears to be showing money from collections at a specific nightclub in Mackenzie.
The man the money went to
The 42-year-old is the key figure in the first group. Associates from his circle had already been targeted — their vehicles set on fire — months before his arrest.
Police say he ran the strike team and was the person to whom the money was funnelled. Investigators are still working to establish whether the group took its orders from above.
Three men, four burning vehicles and a convict giving orders from prison
In the early hours of 14 August 2025, three men got out of a car on the Pyla seafront, shot at a security guard and set fire to four vehicles belonging to the 43-year-old businessman’s company.
Days later, Larnaca CID arrested five men, all now facing trial. Police say the orders came from a 44-year-old convict already behind bars in the Central Prison.
The other four are aged 17, 17, 23 and 27. The motive has not been established and it remains unclear, according to police sources, whether this group is connected to the broader organised crime network mapped in Larnaca.
The investigation reached beyond Larnaca entirely. It led police to a hideout in Deneia where they found weapons and more than two kilograms of methamphetamine — the largest quantity of the drug seized anywhere in Cyprus last year.
A 29-year-old Greek Cypriot also came into the frame. He had previously been convicted in a high-profile case and placed in a witness protection programme.
Two people from his close circle were later murdered in cold blood, and he was subsequently deemed an unreliable witness.
Police found on his phone CCTV footage taken from inside Larnaca Court, showing the transfer of the 44-year-old convict and other individuals. According to police sources, that case is expected to be filed before court.
Twenty-five videos and seven torture victims
Since last Saturday, the public has been confronted with what police say was found on the phone of the 48-year-old defendant — a man facing charges over the Larnaca shooting and a separate assault on a member of the public in Pyla hours earlier.
His phone allegedly contained 25 videos showing the torture of seven people, beaten with guns, belts and other objects.
Some appear to be bleeding and pleading, as described in court. Four of the seven victims have been identified. They were either allegedly “interrogated” into confessing criminal acts or beaten until they handed over money.
A 27-year-old Palestinian is in custody over the torture case. A 26-year-old foreign national — wanted in connection with the same case — is also alleged to have played a role in the shooting. Further arrests are expected.
The 48-year-old is the alleged kingpin of the second criminal group. Police say he recruited men of Arab origin to act as a strike team across various criminal operations, including the protection racket.
He has a lengthy criminal record and has served multiple prison sentences. When he was arrested over the shooting, he had already been free on conditions with a separate case before the courts.
Police say the altercation that preceded the Larnaca shooting was sparked by a demand for protection money from a businessman. Last summer his car was torched, and he has spoken of an alleged plot to kill him.
Police are now working through more than 3,000 photos and videos recovered from his two phones, and are investigating whether he was acting on orders from others.
Larnaca is the tip of the iceberg
The 17 January shooting on Larnaca’s busiest street showed how bold organised crime has become — and how close ordinary people came to being caught in the crossfire. But Larnaca, investigators believe, is only the tip of the iceberg.
The bigger game is being played out in other cities, which have drawn the attention of international criminal networks drawn by the vast sums of money in circulation. The Justice Minister has announced measures to tackle organised crime. How effective they prove remains to be seen.
Read more: