Cypriot Army captain admits killing Pinays, others

NICOSIA, Cyprus  – A police investigation into the slayings of two Filipino women whose bodies were found in an abandoned mineshaft in Cyprus widened Thursday after investigators connected a military officer detained as a suspect to a third woman from the Philippines who vanished 16 months ago.

Investigators testified at a detention hearing that a witness said the suspect had photographs of 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola’s temporary residence permit that were taken the day she disappeared in December 2017, the state-run Cyprus News Agency reported.

The 35-year-old captain admitted while under questioning that he met Arquiola the day before she went missing, the investigators said in court.

Police officers and fire service personnel have finished combing the flooded mineshaft where the bodies of 38-year-old Marry Rose Tiburcio and another Asian woman who hasn’t been formally identified were found six days apart. Cypriot media identified the second woman as Arian Palanas Lozano, 28.

Tiburcio’s 6-year-old daughter, Sierra, remains missing. Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said divers plan to move the search for the missing girl Friday to a reservoir 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) away from the mineshaft.

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio’s online activity. A law enforcement official said the suspect admitted he killed Tiburcio and another woman.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case.

Police said five British law enforcement officials, including a coroner, a clinical psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in cases involving multiple homicides, are coming to Cyprus to help with the investigation.

Activists who work to support immigrants to Cyprus have criticized the police force, alleging the department dragged its feet when the two women whose bodies were found in the mineshaft were reported missing nearly a year ago. 

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides defended the force’s actions. He told private TV station Sigma that Cypriot lawmakers turned down a police request last year for a law that would authorize law enforcement officers to access the personal data of missing persons.

Meanwhile, a team from the Philippine embassy in Athens has arrived in Cyprus to assist in the ongoing investigation into the murders of three Filipino women there, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

In a statement, the DFA said embassy representatives will meet with Cypriot authorities and provide assistance to the probe, including the provision of DNA samples to help in identifying the victims.

Embassy charge d’affaires Judy Barbara Robianes has reported the cases of missing Filipino women to Cypriot authorities and continuously followed up with them on those cases.

The three Filipino women, one of whom was with her daughter, were reported missing between 2017 and 2018.  

According to the DFA, the self-confessed suspect met the Filipino women through a dating website. – AP