Police announced on Monday the arrest of a third person in connection with the forgery and supply of false permanent residency documents.

A 27-year-old man was arrested on Sunday night and remains in custody in the latest part of an investigation which began in March.

The detention comes after a 65-year-old Syrian man and a 41-year-old Greek Cypriot woman were arrested and taken into custody earlier on Sunday. The pair are expected to be brought before Nicosia District Court on Monday.

The weekend’s arrests bring the total number of arrests for this case to ten, as last Friday police proceeded to arrest another seven people, who were remanded for eight days.

The charges under investigation are conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to extort, forgery, circulation of forged documents and obtaining registration by false representation, as well as offences of corruption, defrauding a public official, abuse of power and neglect of official duty.

On March 20 the director of the Limassol citizens service centre reported that between December 8, 2022 and March 3, as many as 20 applications to obtain driving licences appeared suspicious.

Upon further investigation, carried out by the Alien and Immigration Service, it emerged that all 20 applicants presented fake permanent residency permits (MEU2).

Arrest warrants were issued for all. For the same case, a 58-year-old owner of a service office had been arrested and detained.