A major fire in Episkopi at the end of December may be a cover-up for insurance fraud – it is thought that the owners of the house that caught fire staged an arson burglary to claim insurance benefits. Police have identified and are questioning the arsonists directly.

On December 26, firefighters extinguished a large fire in a village near Limassol – the fire damaged not only a three-storey apartment building, but also a car parked nearby and a nearby kindergarten building. The investigation revealed that the fire was caused by malicious intent.

The owners, who were spending their Christmas holidays abroad, reported the disappearance of a safe containing valuables (including a pair of gold watches worth €30,000) and €180000 in cash.

Law enforcers suspected that the victims were trying to defraud the insurance company – they had renewed their policy in September and submitted a claim for compensation after the incident. The intermediary in organizing the arson and two alleged perpetrators were detained, who said that the owners of the property had offered them EUR 1000 for “services”.

However, the detainees deny the theft of valuables – according to them, there was nothing particularly attractive to thieves in the house at all.

Neither the clients, nor the intermediary, nor the executors have so far confessed to the charges against them. The investigation continues.