DEPUTY SERGEANT ARRESTED OVER TIP-OFF

A DEPUTY police sergeant was yesterday arrested and remanded in custody in connection with tipping off people he knew that police were about to carry out a search for drugs at a riverbed in Nicosia.

Police said the incident happened on Thursday nigh, when police received a tip that there was a group of youngsters using drugs at a certain point along a Nicosia riverbed.  A group of three officers, headed by the deputy sergeant, asked to investigate the information.

En route to the destination, the officer allegedly used his mobile phone and asked two individuals if they were at the place the officers were heading to - -- thus warning them of the impending search of the area.

The deputy sergeant has been suspended while an investigation into whether the officer committed a criminal offence, thwarted a police investigation, was negligent during the line of duty or violated classified information.  Instructions have also been given to conduct a disciplinary investigation.  Police yesterday remained tight-lipped on the officer's age and the location of where the investigation was supposed to have taken place.