An internal investigation could be launched within the police after it was established that the cash sum of US$3,100 – that was seized by officers and taken in as evidence – went missing.

The money had been seized from the home of a man 13 years ago who was subsequently jailed for seven years in Athens for trafficking counterfeit dollars. Police officers in Cyprus had visited the man’s home in Nicosia and seized the cash sum of $3,100 and cheque book from the Co-op branch in Engomi from his wife and father-in-law.

The money, he says, was not counterfeit while the $100 bills were marked and recorded.

Upon his release from prison and return to Cyprus, the man – who Phileleftheros have identified as being Costas Nestoros – demanded the money be returned back to him after finding the receipts from the police for the money taken.

After sending a letter police in May 2015, he finally got a response on September 9 last year by Senior Superintendent Christos Mavris who informed him that efforts were underway to not only locate the money but also the case file.

He has yet to receive an update while Nestoros claims that a police officer had told him that the money “had probably been stolen”.

The missing file could see an internal inquiry ordered by Police Chief Zacharias Chrysostomou.