Nicosia shooting possibly a mob warning

Police are searching for clues in an apparent gangland shooting incident in Nicosia on Monday night, just across from the Hilton hotel.

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According to reports, a possible attempt on a businessman’s life took place around 11:10pm, when two men on a scooter targeted his vehicle at the Hilton traffic lights near the area’s abandoned military base.

The target was later named as 57-year-old Nikos Rodhotheou, the younger brother of Andreas Rodhotheou who was gunned down in a secluded safe house in Limassol last April.

Nicosia crime investigators believe the latest attack could be a warning, after counting a total of five bullet holes in the back of Rodhotheou’s car. Footage from nearby properties will be examined while canines were also brought at the scene of the crime, according to reports. 

Rodotheou senior’s name had been implicated by a witness during the criminal trial in the Ayia Napa gangland slaying, where businessman Phanos Kalospidiotis and three others, including an off-duty cop, were shot dead back in 2016.

Another shooting victim had been a trial witness in the Ayia Napa slaying, 33-year-old Gary Boris Christodoulou who was killed execution-style on the Ayia Napa highway earlier this month.

Prior to his murder, Christodoulou had been receiving threats for months and was warned not to work for a specific underboss who had been convicted in the Kalopsidiotis murder.

Prosecutors said an ongoing vendetta was behind the Christodoulou murder, while it was not clear whether Nicosia cops drew similar links.

Rodhotheou junior was not injured in Monday’s shooting, according to reports that said he drove a few metres further and parked outside a convenience store on the side of the road towards Kallipoleos Street.