A 22-year-old Bangladeshi national was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday by the Permanent Criminal Court of Larnaca for the murder of his compatriot, Siaruar Ahmed Imon, in June 2026.
The defendant admitted a charge of premeditated murder and was automatically sentenced to life imprisonment. He is to be transferred to the Central Prison after confessing to the killing of the 22-year-old student, also from Bangladesh, on 11 June 2026 in the Kofinou area.
The victim disappeared on the day of the murder and remained missing until 21 June 2026, when police arrested the 22-year-old suspect. He later led officers from the Larnaca CID to the location in Kofinou where he had buried the victim after killing him.
The victim had arrived in Cyprus only a few months earlier to study at a private college in Larnaca. On the afternoon of 11 June, he left the apartment in Oroklini where he was living with other young Bangladeshi men, telling them he was going to a job in the Kofinou area.
He was never seen again.
It later emerged that an unidentified person contacted the victim's father, who lives in Greece, demanding ransom money in exchange for his release.
However, according to the defendant's confession, the victim had already been killed that same evening.
The defendant admitted stabbing and strangling the student in Kofinou before covering the body with straw.
According to his statement to investigators, he had met the victim on a bus five days earlier. During their interactions, he claimed he was offended by a remark made by the victim.
The convicted man told police that they met on 7 June 2026 and that when he asked the victim to share a Wi-Fi hotspot so he could access the internet, the victim allegedly replied: “No, you are poor. You came from the north.”
The defendant further admitted that on 9 June 2026 he purchased the knife he intended to use to kill the victim from a supermarket.
On 11 June, he contacted the victim and told him that he had found a vacant job paying €50 per day, using the offer to lure him to Kofinou.
According to the confession, he then led the victim to the area where he murdered him by stabbing him in the neck and back before strangling him.
He subsequently covered the body with straw, took the victim's mobile phone and sent messages to the victim's father demanding ransom money.
