Two suspects released in motorcycle heist case

Two of the five suspects arrested in the north after a motorcycle heist in Limassol last week were released without charge on Wednesday.

All five appeared in court in northern Nicosia, with police explaining that their investigations had found no link between the pair and the crime in question.

However, it was stated in court that police records showed all the other three had crossed to the Republic at around 4am on the day of the crime. One crossed via the Pergamos checkpoint, while the other two crossed elsewhere without passing through a checkpoint.

The trio then allegedly met up in the Republic before travelling to Limassol, where they smashed the front window of a motorcycle shop by the name of Moto Race, before loading two motorcycles with a total value of €21,000 onto the back of their pickup truck.

They then returned to the north via the Pergamos checkpoint. Later the same day, the shop’s owner, named as Jack Lambrou, travelled to the north and filed a complaint with the Turkish Cypriot police.

Police said the two suspects who crossed into the Republic without passing through a checkpoint had criminal records for similar crimes, and therefore requested that they be held in prison pending a trial.

They noted that the third suspect had no criminal record, and therefore asked that they be put on bail.

Judge Zehra Yalkut Bilgec acquiesced to the police’s requests, ordering that two of the suspects be held in prison for a period not exceeding two months, and releasing the third on the condition they deposit a cash guarantee of 35,000 TL (€1,105), and that two guarantors sign a 250,000 TL (€7,890) bond.