A EUROPEAN arrest warrant and Interpol ‘red bulletin’ has been issued against Gary Robb, one of the north’s most notorious British fugitives, for carrying out construction projects on Greek Cypriot-owned properties, according to reports in the Turkish Cypriot press yesterday. Warrants and Interpol ‘red bulletins’ are also reported to have been issued against four of his business partners, all of whom are Turkish Cypriots.

Robb shot to infamy after BBC documentary Kenyon Confronts found him in 2003 living in luxury in Kyrenia, having apparently escaped justice in the UK following his arrest for serious drugs charges. In the documentary, Robb was secretly filmed telling its makers, “The lads here are on serious charges, I mean mega-serious, multiple murders, big drugs... If they deported all the drug dealers from here there would be no one left on the island.”

Although it was not clear yesterday which of Robbs’ building projects were referred to in the warrants, it is believed they relate to his company’s massive “Amaranta project”, the construction for which began recently in 12,000-donums area in the village of Klepini, near Kyrenia.

Speaking on behalf of Robb’s AGA Construction, Kutsal Tokatlioglu, who is also the subject of an arrest warrant said, “The TRNC police headquarters phoned us and told us about the warrant. They said that if we travel to the south, any EU country, or even to Turkey, we could be arrested.”

Tokatlioglu said despite the warrants, building would continue in Klepini and on other AGA Construction projects, including a hotel planned for Xeros in the northwest of the island.

He criticised the north’s authorities for not doing enough to defend the increasing number of foreigners and Turkish Cypriots in the north who have fallen foul of the new law on European arrest warrants.

“I am building on land that was given by the state, so I expect the state to take responsibility for the situation,” he said, adding: “I want the president to call on the people to take on ownership of the state.”

Tokatlioglu also hit out at the Greek Cypriot side by saying, “The Greek Cypriots are playing a serious game. The construction industry is the powerhouse of the TRNC economy, and the fact that foreigners are buying property in the north and not in the south, and the fact that Turkish Cypriots are getting better off, is making the Greek Cypriots uncomfortable. It’s in their interests to see the living standards of the Turkish Cypriots falling.”

Tokatlioglu claimed Amaranta and its sister company AGA Construction were the “biggest in the business” in the north.
“This is why we have been targeted,” he said. He added that while he had no plans to travel outside the north in the near future, the fact they could no longer travel outside the north would cause serious problems.

He said also that he and his colleagues had no intention of going to the south to defend themselves.

Attorney-general Petros Clerides refused to confirm or deny that the warrants and Interpol ‘red bulletins’ had been issued.