Two men on assassination mission in north Cyprus caught during traffic control

Two men who allegedly came from Turkey to assassinate a businessman in north Cyprus were caught during a traffic stop.

The two suspects identified only as M.Ö. and VA, from Turkey were brought to the Kyrenia court on Thursday, August 15.

Police in a court testimony said the driver of a rental car, M.Ö., who was stopped for control purposes by the Kyrenia Traffic Patrol personnel on Sertaç Sevim Kalebey Street at around 8:30pm on Wednesday, was summoned for drunk driving.

Police said they found an Austrian-made Glock pistol and 12 9mm live rounds in the glove compartment in a search carried out on the vehicle based on reasonable suspicion found.

The gun and bullets were taken as evidence. The suspects, M.Ö. and VA, who was a passenger in the vehicle, were arrested.

Police said they determined that VA arrived in the north of Cyprus on August 8 and M.O. on August 14.

Police said as part of the investigation, the first examination of the suspect VA's phone revealed a message saying "Uncle, send 20,000 TL, we will buy a mask etc., we have some preparations to make so that we are not recognized".

Police said the license plate and photo of a vehicle belonging to a businessman in north Cyprus, and correspondence and photos regarding the shooting of the person in question were also detected.

Police stated that a message was found on the suspect M.Ö.'s phone, which read "We are following you, we will raid you when we see you, don't worry."

The police stated that the investigation was ongoing on a large scale, that there was camera footage that needed to be examined, that the suspects' connections and mobile phone calls would be examined, and requested that they be detained for one day in the first stage.