Paphos man arrested for hunting in prohibited area

A 27-year-old man from Paphos was arrested on Monday after having allegedly been hunting birds in an area where hunting is prohibited.

Paphos police’s assistant operations director Michalis Nikolaou told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday that game fund rangers had been patrolling an area near the village of Arodes on Sunday when they noticed three people riding in a vehicle.

At some point, he said, one of the three people started shooting through an open window at a bird, killing it.

The game fund rangers signalled the vehicle to stop, but, Nikolaou said, it “made off at high speed”.

The rangers then recorded the vehicle’s registration plate and handed the information over to the police.

Investigations determined that the 27-year-old, who is from the village of Inia, and a 19-year-old male were inside the vehicle. The 19-year-old was arrested on Sunday and was handed a single-day remand in court on Monday.

The third man is wanted by the police.

Nikolaou added that the bird’s corpse was later found by rangers and handed over to the police.

The police’s investigation into the matter is ongoing.