Newsroom
What began as a drug probe ended with a discovery that has police scratching their heads, and could be tied to the high price of diesel.
Officers from the Drug Law Enforcement Unit (YKAN) in Limassol searched the home of a 49-year-old man this week after receiving a tip-off about possible drug possession and trafficking. The court-ordered search didn’t turn up any narcotics — but it did reveal 188 large plastic jerrycans filled with diesel fuel.
The containers, found scattered in an open area and a storage unit on the property, had capacities of 20 and 30 liters each. That amounts to thousands of liters of fuel stored without any apparent legal reason.
The man was unable to provide a convincing explanation for the diesel stash and was arrested on the spot for unlawful possession of property.
Police haven’t said why the man may have been hoarding or storing the fuel, but with diesel prices at a long-time high, speculation is growing that the stockpile could have been intended for resale on the black market or for personal use as a hedge against fuel inflation.
Investigations are ongoing, and authorities have yet to determine the source of the fuel or whether more people were involved.
