Members of the Office for Combating Trafficking in Persons, today 30/04/2025, in the early hours of the morning, transferred from the United Kingdom, a woman wanted for sham marriage cases. The arrested woman was a member of an organized criminal ring operating in Cyprus to perform sham marriages, with the participation of vulnerable individuals.
The crimes were committed between 2019-2020 in Romania and Cyprus and concern three sham marriages between women from Europe and men from Asia. It should be noted that two more individuals are wanted on European and international warrants for the same cases.
The case concerns the offences of trafficking in persons with the aim of committing criminal activities, obtaining registration under false pretenses, forgery and circulation of a false document, aiding and abetting illegal entry/transit and stay in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and conspiracy to commit a felony. It was registered today before the Nicosia District Court, which ordered that the accused remain in custody until 30/05/2025, when the next hearing is scheduled.
It should be noted that for the same cases, on 12/03/2025, the Nicosia District Court found three other persons guilty.
For the present case, the Police collaborated under the coordination of EUROPOL, with 3 more countries, Germany, the United Kingdom and Romania, where, within the framework of the investigation, European arrest warrants were issued which were executed by transferring wanted persons to the territory of the Republic.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Office of the Crime Suppression Department and the Headquarters' Human Rights and Civil Protection investigated the cases.
