Police chief Themistos Arnaoutis on Wednesday night called on Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos to substantiate claims he had made regarding alleged links between foreign exchange companies in Cyprus and Latin American drug cartels.

The police stated that Phedonos had been unable to visit the police headquarters on Wednesday, but that he would inform the police as to when he could visit them for this purpose.

Phedonos had made the claims earlier in the day, describing Cyprus as “a market for high drug consumption” and saying the island is “now entering the international money laundering system of Latin American drug cartels”.

“Organised crime, with local and international connections, exploits vulnerabilities of corruption, the postal system, the buffer zone, and the ports to traffic drugs internationally, but the quantities sold on the local market are also huge, with a turnover of tens of millions,” he said.

He added that “as if all this were not enough, a new development leads us to an even greater descent into the world of drugs”.

“Many foreign exchange companies based in Cyprus, through a labyrinth network of companies they create in Latin America, participate in the laundering of dirty money originating from the drug cartels of Mexico and other Latin American countries.”

As such, he posed two questions to Cyprus’ authorities, asking “why do some forex companies based in Cyprus create subsidiaries in Latin America with such a large clientele from these countries”, and how Cyprus’ supervisory authorities “allow these money routes without investigating the money’s origin”.

“The authorities must act, not hide. They must investigate the routes the money took. If they do so with boldness and honesty, everything will be revealed. The competent and supervisory authorities have the means,” he said.

He added that “society cannot stand any more silence and coverup”, and asked, “which of us here, in suits and ties, have become partners in this nightmare?”

“Who benefits? Drug money seems to be watering underground roots of power and ‘entrepreneurship’,” he added.