Thursday, July 1, 2010

Stranger things have happened in the mediterranean island of Cyprus ...

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)Image via Wikipedia
AP is reporting that Cyprus Police is hunting Christopher Metsos, the alleged paymaster of the Russian spy ring in the US who disappeared in that divided island nation after posting $33,000 (euro27,000) bail. It's not like the alleged sponsoring country of these spies could not afford that measly bail amount.

Anyway, the Cypriot government is now apparently under pressure to explain the "bewildering fumble involving a man wanted in the United States for allegedly operating a Russian spy ring there."

Read more here.

Stranger things have happened in that island in the Med, of course.

In December last year, thieves have dug up the coffin of the former President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos and made off with his corpse — leaving no indication of the motive behind the macabre crime.

News report at that time reported that police described the act as "a highly organized crime," as the body snatchers apparently shifted a heavy marble slab encasing the tomb (weighing 250kg ) and dug through several feet of earth to reach the corpse before covering their tracks with lime.

Who would want to do something like that?

It was three months before the kidnapped corpse was recovered after a tip off from an unknown caller. BBC later reported that two Greek Cypriots and a foreign national were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the theft. One of the Greek Cypriots was already serving a prison sentence for other offenses. Which makes the act even more outrageous, if planned and executed by somebody who was already in jail! Think of the logistics of stealing and hiding a corpse?! 

It remains to be seen if police will get a tip off this time as to the whereabouts of the disappeared Russian spy. Maybe an unknown caller will give them a heads up. Or maybe the alleged spy has already vanished into thin air in the north side of the island run by the Turks?  Cross by boat into Greece? Swam over to Lebanon? Perhaps the body snatchers got Mr. Metsos, um... except they got a live one this time...






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