A man and a woman suspected of stealing 50 rings worth €20,000 from a Paphos jewellery shop were remanded in custody for eight days on Friday as police probe whether they were also involved in other burglaries.
They were arrested in Polis Chrysochous on Thursday after they were spotted by a shopkeeper who recognised them from photographs released by police from the jewellery shop’s CCTV footage.
Police are now investigating complaints filed by other businessmen after their photographs were released. Among other, the couple are suspected of being involved in thefts from an optician’s shop in Paphos and a flower shop in Nicosia.
Police investigator told the court that the 37 year old man is suspected of being involved in two other cases and the 32 year old woman in one.
The man is suspected of having taken a pair of sunglasses worth €325 from a shop in Paphos. And a flower shop owner told police that the man and woman had visited the shop on September 20. While he was serving the woman, the man approached the till and pretended to be looking at a bird cage.
After they had left, he discovered that €900 were missing from the till.
Police said that during questioning the two had said they had crossed over from the Turkish-occupied north towards the end of September.
The man admitted to stealing 15 and not 50 rings from the jewellery shop and said that the woman was not aware he had taken them. He said he had sold them for €400.
The man has denied any involvement in the flower shop theft, saying he was in the occupied areas that day. The woman also denied any involvement and said she suffered from memory loss. Both denied any involvement in the theft of the pair of sunglasses.
Police said they had 25 more statements to take and plan to visit specific areas to locate the stolen items. Checks will also be carried out at the checkpoints to determine whether they had crossed over from the Turkish-occupied north.
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https://in-cyprus.com/news/local/paphos-jewellery-theft-suspects-arrested/
