Three arrests in Cyprus remains theft

NICOSIA, Cyprus, March 10 (UPI) -- Police in Cyprus said two Greek Cypriots and an Indian national were arrested for stealing the remains of former President Tassos Papadopoulos from his grave.

State broadcaster CyBC reported the Indian man confessed to the grave robbing Tuesday. He reportedly implicated Antonis Kitas, who is in prison for rape and murder convictions, as well as Kitas' brother.

The arrests came a day after a telephone tip alerted police the body had been left in a different cemetery from that where it was stolen last November, a year after Papadopoulos died, the Cyprus Mail said Wednesday.

The body was identified through DNA testing and identification by the family, the report said.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Loucas Louca told reporters "the outcome is that ransom demands lay behind the theft," which was hotly denied by close family friend Chrysis Pantelides, who is also the director of the Tassos Papadopoulos Foundation.

Pantelides told CyBC the family had not received "any demand whatsoever for ransom, full stop."

Papadopoulos is expected to be reburied in his original grave this week, the Mail said.