Paphos Life

Police in Paphos are searching for two armed robbers that blasted their way into a branch of the Co-op bank in Timi at around 8.30am on Monday morning before demanding cash and fleeing the scene.

Police patrols and a helicopter are scouring the area in search of the robbers who made their getaway in a beige/coffee coloured Hyundai four-wheel drive, registration LAR 046, Paphos police spokesman Michalis Ioannou told the Cyprus Mail.

The vehicle was reported stolen from a parking lot at Paphos airport. The owner is from Larnaca and parked it at the airport while traveling abroad.

Ioannou said that the robbers spoke in broken Greek, and both wielded guns at terrified staff.

“They shot the glass of the security doors at the front of the bank before entering, they had their faces covered and demanded money from the two female bank tellers on duty,” he said.

The robbers spoke to the terrified women and said: “Don’t be afraid, we need only the money,” said Ioannou.

According to police, one brandished a Cyprus issue military gun and the other a hunting rifle. The bank opened at 7.45am.

Staff met the armed robbers demands and emptied cash from their tills into a bag the robbers brought to the scene, before the pair fled and jumped into a car parked close by and made their escape.

Finger print and DNA experts are now at the scene, which has been cordoned off, to carry out investigations, and police have already studied CCTV footage.

“It’s too early to know the amount stolen as the experts have to carry out work at the scene before we can examine the cash drawers,” said Ioannou.

The police spokesman said that the men are described as around 65kg and 80kg but were wearing hoods.

source:- http://cyprus-mail.com/2017/08/07/armed ... op-paphos/

Paphos armed robbers still at large

THE stolen car used by two hooded armed robbers that blasted their way into a branch of the co-op bank in Timi at around 8.30am on Monday morning before demanding cash and fleeing the scene with €21,500, was found burnt out at midnight the same day.

The beige/coffee coloured Hyundai four-wheel drive, registration LAR 046, which was reported stolen from a parking lot at Paphos airport, was found on the outskirts of Choullou village in Paphos.

“The robbers set the car on fire and it is destroyed,” Paphos police spokesman Michalis Ioannou told the Cyprus Mail, adding that so far, no witnesses to the action had come forward.

The vehicle owner is from Larnaca and parked it at the airport while traveling abroad.

Four people voluntarily gave statements at Paphos CID on Monday and a subsequent search of their homes found no evidence relating to the crime, said Ioannou.

“We are still investigating but so far, no arrests have been made,” he said.

The robbers spoke in broken Greek, and both wielded guns, a Cyprus issue G3 assault rifle, and a hunting shotgun at terrified staff after first shooting out the glass of the security doors at the front of the bank before entering. They had their faces covered and demanded money from the two terrified female bank tellers on duty. There was also one customer inside the bank at the time.

Wont be long before they get them,

Limassol co-op robbed, again

Two armed men robbed a Limassol co-op bank on Friday morning, fleeing the scene with a stolen vehicle, police said.

The men robbed the Ayios Athanasios branch but the amount of cash taken was not immediately known.

Reports said it was the same branch that was robbed of €40,000 on August 16.

In the same way as the first time, police said that at around 9:35am on Friday, two people entered the branch with their faces covered brandishing two sawn-off hunting shotguns.

They were described as short and tanned and used a stolen Honda to reach the bank. The same vehicle was used to get away.

It was found burnt on a highway a short while later.

According to police, the robbers changed to a white Mazda Demio and were believed to be heading towards Nicosia.

A third person is believed to have helped them with the getaway car.

This was the fourth co-op robbery in the past month, during which over €100,000 were stolen from three different branches.

On August 2, two individuals smashed the entrance of the bank’s Pyrgos branch in Limassol getting away with €14,980.

Five days later on August 7, the Timi branch in Paphos was robbed of €30,000 by two people wielding a G3 assault rifle and a hunting shotgun.

On August 16, two perpetrators got away with €30,000 from the Ayios Athanasios branch.

Police has yet to make any arrests but said much could be done by the bank to up their security, such as using double doors.

http://cyprus-mail.com/2017/09/08/limas ... -robbed-2/