Larnaca CID are continuing their investigations into the death of a 34 year old Latvian woman during a ‘purification ceremony’ held in the Vergina area of Aradippou on Tuesday.
The woman was taken to hospital where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Police are waiting for the results of toxicological and other tests but are examining the possibility the woman died after drinking a cocktail of alcohol and a hallucinogenic drug.
Larnaca police chief Charalambos Zachariou told the Cyprus News Agency that police are looking for about 20 other people who were at the same ceremony, most of them non-Cypriots. Each paid 150 euro to participate.
Zachariou said that police have found five or six participants and were taking statements.
He said that police have testimony that participants were given a beverage which may have contained Ayahuasca, which is hallucinogenic.
A 50 year old Russian woman who lives in Limassol was arrested on suspicion of causing death by reckless or negligent act. The woman is pregnant and is in a private clinic in Limassol where she has been remanded in custody for six days.
Zachariou said that evidence has been taken from the apartments where the ceremony occurred, including the suspect’s computer.
The deputy chief of the anti narcotics squad (YKAN) Stelios Serghides said a man from Colombia is suspected of having brought the substance to Cyprus.
The man left Cyprus before the ceremony and police will ask Interpol and Europol to help track him down.
Read more
https://in-cyprus.com/deadly-cocktail-at-purification-ceremony-may-have-killed-34-year-old-woman/
