Paphos police fire warning shots as teen arrested for drug possession

The police fired warning shots as they attempted to arrest a 19-year-old male over the alleged possession of illegal drugs, according to an announcement released on Friday.

The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon, with the police saying they had attempted to pull a car over to stop for a check, but that its driver “refused to comply and sped away”, and committed a “series of traffic violations” while making his escape.

They said they tracked down and stopped the vehicle “at a later stage” and attempted to arrest its 19-year-old driver, but that “during the arrest process, he resisted and managed to escape”.

As such, one officer fired warning shots into the air.

The police said that as the 19-year-old was escaping, he “dropped a nylon bag onto the ground, which contained a small amount of cannabis”.

He then returned to the scene and gave written consent for his car to be searched, with that search turning up what the police called a “small amount” of both cocaine and cannabis.

Then, he underwent a preliminary drug test, which returned a positive result.

He was as such arrested for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

The police’s investigation into the matter is ongoing.