Cyprus’s chief of police has confirmed a newspaper article claiming that a Pakistani Al Qaeda suspect has been arrested on the island, a report from Nicosia said yesterday. According to the Athens News Agency, chief Tassos Panayiotou said the suspect — who has been deported to an unspecified destination — was a member of Saudi Osama bin Laden’s Muslim fundamentalist group. | "unspecified destination", perhaps a sunny island in the tropics? |
The ANA quoted Panayiotou as confirming a report on the matter in yesterday’s Machi newspaper, but offered no further details. The newspaper had claimed that the Pakistani man, aged about 45, was arrested a few days ago in cooperation with American agents who had been watching the suspect. According to Machi, the man — whom the paper described as a leading Al Qaeda operative — had been planning terrorist attacks against US-connected buildings in countries close to Cyprus. | Turkey is close to Cyprus |
The Pakistani was arrested and deported, the paper said, without specifying where. The ANA said Panayiotou had refused to reveal where the man had been deported. | Normally you would deport someone back to their home country. |
Last December, Cypriot police initially announced they had detained five Pakistani students suspected of planning terrorist acts at Paphos airport, before admitting that they had made a mistake. |