Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 21, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
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A British man has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of terrorism and espionage, with alleged surveillance of military bases.
NICOSIA (Reuters) -Police in Cyprus have arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage, authorities said on Saturday.
The man appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries. No further details would be issued, police said, citing national security.
A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the individual's nationality, saying it was in contact with local authorities.
"We are in contact (with) the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest of a British man," the spokesperson told Reuters.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol. The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus's own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus's ANT1 news portal reported.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid the conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran. Terror-related offences on the island are very rare.
(Reporting by Michele Kambas and Sam Tabahriti in London;Editing by Mark Potter, Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
The British man is facing charges of terror-related offences and espionage.
The suspect was arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol.
A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the individual's nationality and stated they are in contact with local authorities in Cyprus.
Cyprus lies close to the Middle East and has recently been used as a transit point amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
The suspect appeared before a district court, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries.
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