Two accused of making over $30k from human trafficking in north Cyprus

Two men were arrested and detained by Turkish Cypriot police trafficking people into north Cyprus from Sri Lanka.

The duo identified only as RT, A Turkmenistan national and OS, A Turkish national who were arrested as part of the human trafficking investigation conducted by the Malian police, appeared in court again yesterday on Friday December 2 accused of making exactly $30,400 (€29,243) though trafficking.

Police told the court that the pair had been arrested on suspicion of money laundering, human trafficking, and preparing false documents.

The police explained that it had been reported in the media that people were being trafficked into the TRNC with fake documents in exchange for money paid to the pair to find them work, but that when they arrived in Cyprus, they were “left to their fate”.

A total of 15 Sri Lankan nationals travelled to north Cyprus as part of the scheme, paying the pair four-figure sums each in the hope that the two suspects would find them work.

Police said one of the pair works for a tourism company, and that both were responsible for creating fake tourism documents to allow the third country nationals to travel to north Cyprus, while one of the suspects then signed the documents.

The police also told the court that the tourism business used to create the forged documents “has not had its operating licence renewed since March 31”.

One of the pair was arrested while attempting to cross to the south and that the police could not find his mobile phone.

The other suspect had told police he had thrown the mobile phone into the sea and refused to show the police where exactly he had thrown it.

Both suspects were released on bail, with the judge ruling that they be held on bails of 100,000TL, with two guarantors ordered to sign bonds worth 400,000TL for one and 500,000TL for the other.