CYPRUS: A 35-year-old drug squad (YKAN) officer has been suspended on orders from the police chief while criminal and disciplinary offences against him are investigated involving a teenage girl who was a minor at the time, deputy police spokesperson Nicoletta Tyrimou has said.

The officer was arrested on Tuesday but reported feeling unwell and was admitted to a Limassol clinic. He was charged on Thursday with luring a minor into child pornography, impersonation and the illegal  retention of personal data, and released from custody pending a court hearing.

According to reports, the policeman approached the girl, who is now 17 – the legal age of consent in Cyprus – two years ago through a fake social media account pretending to be a woman and eventually convincing her to send him inappropriate photographs though a complaint has only now been filed.

Tyrimou said that the policeman must have slipped up at some point recently, leading the girl to realise that in fact it was not a female she was speaking to. Police would not go into details about a reported link between the teenager and the officer’s wife on Facebook or why the ‘grooming’ and managed to go on for two years.

“In such instances, the police favour no one. Such behaviour, apart from being condemnable and unacceptable, affects the integrity of the whole police force,” Tyrimou said.

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