Cyprus police were investigating Monday how an officer mistakenly telephoned a Serbian who was suspected of being the ringleader in a mafia-linked assassination plot.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said the officer intended to call his counterpart at Interpol’s office in Serbia in March this year, but erroneously called the suspect instead.
An initial investigation found it was a genuine mistake and not corruption-related. A second probe will determine if the officer will face any disciplinary measures.
Cyprus police say the error happened after they were informed by Belgrade about a planned assassination attempt, but insisted the tip-off didn’t specifically name anyone as the intended target.
Some have claimed that the blunder warned the plot ringleaders, who reworked their plans and postponed the assassination to June, when a 51-year-old Cypriot businessman was killed in the resort of Ayia Napa.
The debacle came to light after a paper on Monday reported that Serbian Interpol had information a Cypriot prison guard may have been involved in the case.
No one has been convicted yet of the killing of Fanos Kalopsidiotis who had also been the target of an earlier assassination bid 4Â years ago.
