North Cyprus Law | Drug Dealer Allegedly Allowed to Escape for £20000 Bribe

North Cyprus Law | Drug Dealer Allegedly Allowed to Escape for £20000 BribeccusationAccording to  North Cyprus daily Yeni Düzen (12.06.19), an Iranian drug dealer alleged that a North Cyprus Law officer accepted a £20,000 bribe in order for him to be allowed to escape and return to Iran.

Mohamed Amine Khereoubi escaped from Lefkoşa State Hospital in Northern Cyprus on 25 April 2019 where he had been taken for treatment for appendicitis. The newspaper reported that he had escaped through a toilet window after being treated.

On its front page on Wednesday, 12 June, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Düzen carried a report that Mr Khereoubi, said to be 29, had contacted the paper from Iran to explain what had happened. He said that he had came up with an escape plan after witnessing the “violent” behaviour of prison guards, particularly towards non-Turkish speaking foreign nationals.

Talking to Yeni Düzen reporter Dila Şimşek via video messaging, the fugitive said, “If you reach the right person at the right time, you can do anything you want at the prison. Because there is bribery and corruption”.

He had bought a mobile phone for “several thousand Turkish lira” to help arrange his plans.

“I got in touch with a corrupt police officer, who offered to help me escape in return for £20,000, so I agreed” Mr Khereoubi was quoted as saying.

“He told me to wait until my next court hearing on 13 June, but I didn’t want to wait that long.”

When prison officers caught Mr Khereoubi with the mobile phone they “beat me so badly that my appendix burst,” he told Yeni Düzen.

“The police officer who said he would help me came to the hospital in the early hours of 25 April,” Mr Khereoubi continued.

“The guard was having a rest at that moment. I went to the toilet and escaped and got into the car of that police officer.”

Mr Khereoubi then claimed that the policeman, who he said he had paid off via a third party, drove him to Girne harbour. He then boarded a ferry to Turkey and from there traveled to Iran “with ease”, the newspaper wrote.

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