A stolen body from the Maronite cemetery near Anthoupolis in Nicosia is that of the mother of prosecution witness Ioannis Andreou in an ongoing court case concerning drugs.
This is what police said late on Tuesday, hours after a gravedigger called the police after seeing that the tomb of a woman who died four years ago was open.
Andreou, who is in the protection witness programme, was arrested in 2019 after drug squad members confiscated a large amount of cocaine. He is to testify against a main suspect and had been warned not to testify in the case.
After this development, measures to protect Andreou have increased, police told Philenews.
At the same time, police expressed anger over the delayed court procedures in Cyprus since witnesses change their minds after a long time is passed and are reluctant to testify because of fear.