A forensic expert climbs down a ladder to inspect the dug-out grave of former president Tassos Papadopoulos in the village of Deftera

UNKNOWN individuals dug up the grave of former President Tassos Papadopoulos and stole his remains in an act of desecration that shocked and repulsed the nation yesterday.“Criminals opened the grave of the president and removed the body,” said Chrysis Pantelides, a close aide of the former president. The perpetrators left behind an empty coffin, he said.Police questioned three individuals who were released later last night.

This was in connection with information that a military ambulance had been seen in the area.

The gruesome, yet well-organised act, was discovered at around 8am by a former member of Papadopoulos’ security detail who is now employed by the family as a driver.

“Like every day, when I go and inspect the grave to see if it needs anything, today I saw this abhorrent sight. I was shocked, really, I am sorry I cannot say anything else,” Melis Ioannou told state television.

The grave robbery came on the eve of the anniversary of Papadopoulos’ death in 2008.

Police said the body had been dug up between Thursday evening and the early hours of yesterday.

Reports said dogs in the neighbourhood were heard barking in the early morning hours.

The news sent shockwaves across Cyprus with politicians, parties and organisations condemning the act.

Police cordoned off the grave and scoured the rain-soaked area for clues.

A coordination centre was set up near the cemetery while dozens of officers clad in water-proof gear searched the nearby fields, ankle-deep in mud.

Mounds of earth could be seen at the site of the grave along with white powder, reported to be lime, scattered around and on the tombstone.

"There are no words to describe this despicable act. This is a blight to our history, to our culture," Justice Minister Loucas Louca told Sigma, TV station.

The grave had been covered by a granite slab weighing over 250 kilograms, which had been moved. The coffin was still in its place inside the grave, police said.

It is speculated that the act was the work of a group of people, at least four but probably more than that.

It did not appear that any machinery had been used in the process, reports said, although police did not immediately confirm this.

The scene was examined by state pathologists Sophocles Sophocleous and Nicolas Charalambous.

It was also visited by the family and friends of the late former president as well as members of the public.

His family expressed its deep shock at the “heinous crime of sacrilege.”

“This unholy act by grave robbers, beyond the sorrow and anger it causes, cannot in any way bury the policy or write off the legacy left by Tassos Papadopoulos,” the family said in a statement.

“Wherever his body may be now, his voice will be heard and endure in these difficult times for our national matter,” the statement added, referring to the Cyprus problem.

A memorial service scheduled for today will go ahead as planned, the family said.

Papadopoulos was elected President in 2003, capping a 50-year-long career in politics.

He ushered the island into the European Union just after rallying Greek Cypriots to reject a UN-drafted plan to reunify the war-divided island in a referendum.

He died from lung cancer aged 74 around eight months after being knocked out the presidential election from the first round of voting.