Authorities have located the “girl with the hula hoop” statue which was stolen from the Paphos city centre.
On Tuesday, police found the upper part of the bronze statue in a rural area in Tremithousa.
Three people remain in custody in connection with the case. They are two men aged 55 and 37 and a woman aged 42.
According to police reports, their motive was the sale of copper – the material of which the statue is made.
Their trial hearing was set for February 17 before Paphos District Court.
Police are also seeking a 50-year-old man to facilitate investigations into the theft.
‘The girl with the hula hoop’ was gifted to the city by Chinese businessman and Paphos resident Henry Jiang in 2019.
It was created by artist Yiota Ioannidou and was installed at the ‘Hani tou Ibrahim’.
CCTV cameras in the area had recorded two culprits approaching the sculpture, forcibly removing it from its base and dragging it to a spot where it was not recorded.
Ioannidou, who was very distressed that her work was destroyed, had put a €1,000 cash reward for information helping the police to make an arrest.
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