FAMAGUSTA businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis believes he was the target of the three men arrested on Monday with loaded guns in their car.

“Yes, I was the target of the three prospective killers who were arrested by police in Ayia Napa,” he told Phileleftheros newspaper, in an interview published yesterday.

Kalopsidiotis claimed he had no idea who would want to cause him such harm: “All I do is focus on my businesses and I have never bothered anybody,” he said. 

He added: “Yes, I feel like my life is at risk. This is the fifth attack against me and my family”.

Kalopsidiotis’ father has so far managed to escape two bomb attacks unscathed.

In June, five men were shot dead while in their car on a busy side street off the heart of Ayia Napa’s nightclub scene. Four of them worked as Kalopsidiotis’ body guards.

Computer towers gathered from the car made the authorities suspect the killings were related to a spate of attacks on betting shops, as Kalopsidiotis owns a number of shops.

Two men from Greece are currently on trial for the murders, after being arrested in Greece on a European arrest warrant. Police are still looking for the murder weapon and the masterminds.

“Arresting the three (on Monday) was a great success by the police,” said Kalopsidiotis. But he repeated his plea for police protection or the right to carry a gun. “Otherwise, I wonder how I will be able to protect by myself,” said Kalopsidiotis.

The businessman also spoke to Phileleftheros a few days after the June shootings, claiming he had a string of legitimate businesses and that he had no idea who would want to harm him.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman yesterday said the three suspects – a 29-year-old Albanian and two Greeks aged 33 and 44 – were still being questioned, as were a number of other people who police believe could be connected to the case.

The three were arrested after police were tipped off by a member of the public, who spotted them “acting suspiciously” in an area of Ayia Napa.

Police found two loaded guns in the suspects’ car. The 44-year-old said the trio came to Cyprus to “do a job”, for which he said he wasn’t given much information. The Albanian – who proved to have a fake Greek ID – said all three had come to the island to carry out a big robbery, but were contacted by a man in Cyprus who told them they would be murdering a local man instead. The 29-year-old said the Greek Cypriot man led the three to where the car with the guns was – less than an hour before they were arrested by the police. The 33-year-old suspect claims he came to Cyprus on holiday.

Cyprus Mail