Greek Cypriot man arrested for trying to smuggle a Cameroonian woman and her 6 months old baby to south Cyprus

A Greek Cypriot man was last week arrested by Turkish Cypriot police while attempting to smuggle a Cameroonian woman and her six months old baby in the back of his car to south Cyprus.

The man named only as MG was caught at around 2:30am on Monday, September, 4, at the Kermiya crossing point to the south of Cyprus trying to take a mother and her 6-month-old baby to the south of Cyprus by hiding them in the backseat of his car.

He was arrested and on Thursday, September, 7, he was taken to the Lefkcosia Military Court on charges of violating a military restricted zone where he was detained for 8 days.

He was brought back to court again Monday, September, 18.

Police officer who testified in court said the discovery was made during a search carried out on the vehicle used by the suspect, who wanted to pass from the Kermiya crossing point to the south of Cyprus.

During the search, a Cameroonian mother and her 6-month-old baby, who were hiding in the backseat of the vehicle and trying to cross to the south, were detected.

MG and the mother were taken into custody and an investigation was launched.

The police stated that during the immigration check, it was determined that the mother named only as NDL had been staying in the north of Cyprus without a residence permit for a total of 278 days since September 30, 2022.

The police said that the mother was sent to prison on September 4, 2023 for a period not exceeding 20 days, and the driver of the vehicle was ordered to remain detained for 2 more days.

During the investigation, the police said that the woman's brother living in Germany had sent 900 Euros to a Cameroonian woman living in the north of Cyprus to help someone that would help his sister go the south.

Following this discovery, the woman was visited in prison to seek for an explanation.

Police said that NDL wanted to go south because it was in the European Union, and that the driver of the car that his friend had arranged for him agreed to take him south in exchange for money.

The police stated that the investigation had turned from violation of the military restricted zone to human trafficking and requested an additional period of 7 days foe his detention.