CYPRUS: Larnaca-based drug dealer who used mum to run UK op is jailed

A Larnaca-based Cypriot dealer who let his mother run a £300,000 drug ring from the UK has been jailed for eight years after being extradited.

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George Pikounis, 29, set up a crack cocaine and heroin supply line from London to Plymouth and then moved to Pyla, outside of Larnaca, where he controlled the business by phone.

His mother, Helen Katsigianni, 67, took over the day-to-day running of the scheme and took regular flights abroad to deliver the profits.

Three members of the drugs gang based in Devon were also sentenced.

The group was trapped by a Devon and Cornwall Police and National Crime Agency operation, which tracked Katsigianni's regular train trips to Plymouth to deliver drugs, and visits to her home in London by couriers picking up drugs or dropping off cash.

Martin Payne helped run the business from Plymouth and was identified by officers after Katsigianni took regular taxi journeys from the station to his home.

Pikounis, Katsigianni, of Wood Green, London; and Payne, of Keswick Close, Plymouth, were jailed for eight, three and a half and six years respectively.

Pikounis ran the gang from Cyprus where he controlled three bank accounts that were used to transfer the profits.

Officers from Devon and Cornwall Police worked with the National Crime Agency and flew to Cyprus to where local police arrested Pikounis on July 25, 2017 and he was extradited a week later.

Detective Constable Chris Louca, of Devon and Cornwall Police said: "The investigation team produced more than 10,000 pages of evidence that provided the court with a detailed account of the many facets of the investigation, including mobile phone data and financial records.

"The level of detail in the evidence was key to the defendants entering early guilty pleas and successfully convicting those who chose to stand trial."

Louca added: “We would like to thank the Cypriot Law Enforcement Agencies and the National Crime Agency for their assistance in the overseas arrest and extradition of Pikounis.”