Criminal underboss arrested in Limassol

Police arrested well known criminal underboss Tasos Simillidis Friday early morning during a raid at his Limassol residence.

Police said Simillidis had three foreign nationals standing guard outside his home, using a beefed up security apparatus including two-way radios and cameras.

Reports say cops found €35,000 cash inside the residence during the raid and that Simillidis could not explain whether he earned that money legally.

They also found a hunting rifle without a permit and a walkie-talkie radio that the suspect would use to communicate with his guards.

Simillidis is a well known figure in the criminal underworld, based in Limassol.

He is known for his past involvement in running illegal prostitution rings as well as taking part in the 1997 murder attempt against Senior Don Antonis Fanieros who died last year of cancer.

Simillidis was also implicated in the murder attempt against Alexis Mavromichalis, also known as ‘Alexoui’ (Little Alex) and was the main witness in a big murder case in the slain of criminal rivals from the Aeroporos family.