TRNC government declares Italian mafioso persona non grata in north Cyprus

The TRNC Council of Ministers has declared two people personal non grata in North Cyprus.

76-year-old Sebastiano Claudio Saia, a member of the Ndrangheta Marando who was living in north Cyprus was declared persona non grata by the TRNC’s authorities on Wednesday, pointing out that he was wanted by Italy in connection with criminal activities in the Italian region of Calabria and Oleg Serebryanskiy was wanted by the Russian Interpo with a red notice.

In an announcement in the official ‘government’ gazette, the TRNC’s ‘government’ said Saia’s membership of the Ndrangheta “endangers public order, administrative order, or general morality, or arouses hostility against the people of the TRNC and against the state.”

The north’s authorities also declared Russian national Oleg Serebryanskiy persona non grata. Serebryanskiy had travelled to the north after operating a clinic in Moscow without the appropriate licence or equipment, in which a patient died.

According to Russian media, Serebyanskiy has already been returned to the country, having been arrested on Monday after landing in Moscow on a flight from Turkey.

It is expected that Saia will also be returned to his country of origin.