Two teens arrested for robbing beachgoers

Two teenagers, aged 17 and 18 years old, were arrested on Friday and Saturday after having been seen stealing unguarded items off beaches in Ayia Napa and Larnaca.

The police said they had been informed by a lifeguard in Ayia Napa that a person he had previously identified as the thief of a bag containing two mobile phones on Monday had returned to the beach.

Officers then went to the beach, where they identified the 18-year-old and arrested him. He reportedly admitted to his crime and remains in custody.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of Saturday morning in Larnaca, the 17-year-old was arrested and taken into custody after testimony had been secured against him in relation to the theft of a bag containing a mobile phone, a car key, and other items from a beach in the town.

Police said the bag in question had been found and handed over to them by a worker in the area the next day, where it was found that only the mobile phone was missing from inside.

The police’s investigation into both cases is ongoing.

Thefts from beaches have been on the rise in Cyprus in recent weeks, with police spokesman Christos Andreou having said on Tuesday that “dozens” of cases have been reported.

At the time, he said the police were investigating a total of 57 cases of thefts from beaches, with that number having since risen.

He said complaints of people being robbed on the beach are now a “daily phenomenon”, and that as a result, plainclothes police officers are now patrolling the island’s beaches.

The police now advise people to avoid carrying items of value at beaches, to carry only the “necessary amount of money”, to not leave their personal items unattended, and to cooperate with other beachgoers to keep the beaches safe.