Terrorism suspect visited Cyprus airbase with US Μarines and transport aircraft before arr

Source: in-cyprus.com

Cypriot authorities are convinced the Azerbaijani national arrested on Saturday by police headquarters was operating in Cyprus to gather intelligence against Western interests.

Details of the case presented to philenews, along with evidence and testimonies secured by the Crime Detection Department, reveal the suspect’s activities coincided with US military movements.

The Azerbaijani, whose identity remains classified by police, went to the “Andreas Papandreou” airbase in Paphos shortly after American transport aircraft and marines arrived there on Friday, one day before his arrest.

On 20 June, intelligence reports indicated American forces were transferred to the “Andreas Papandreou” airbase. The same day, the Azerbaijani, who was in Limassol and is believed to have been acting on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, took two buses to reach Paphos.

Upon arriving near the base, he walked to Paphos airport, then rented a car which he used for movement and to implement his plans. His journey to Paphos and the base area coincided with reports of heavy American presence in the city, revealed by Greek correspondent Michalis Ignatiou from Washington.

The report, published Friday evening in Hellas Journal and later broadcast on SKAI television, stated: “Amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran and whilst the international community awaits President Donald Trump’s decisions on whether to directly involve America in the conflict, there is extensive movement of American military forces. In this context, American transport aircraft arrived in Cyprus at the ‘Andreas Papandreou’ airbase in Paphos”.

The report added that American troops are also in Paphos, with hundreds of US marines awaiting orders to act in the Middle East, whilst the US maintains 43,000 American soldiers in the broader region.

The Azerbaijani, who has been in custody since Saturday, had been circulating around the British Akrotiri bases area since April carrying a high-resolution camera.

According to intelligence data passed to police, he possessed a professional Nikon Coolpix P1100 camera allowing 125x optical zoom with high resolution, typically used for surveillance purposes.

A 26-year-old Azerbaijani arrested for espionage at Souda naval base on 22 June had the same modus operandi, possessing a camera with 5,000 files depicting military installations and ship arrivals and departures.

He had special encryption software to send photographs to unknown recipients before deleting them.

During questioning, the suspect maintained a rigid stance showing no willingness to cooperate and requested a lawyer.

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