Daniel Wolfram
A wild murder-for-hire plot just unfolded last month in Cyprus. It includes perpetrators from Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden who allegedly wanted to kill a pair of twins from Liverpool.
It all began on the message app Signal under the username Sponge Jobb. There is where an ad popped up and offered $60,000 in crypto to carry out a hit in Cyprus.
That message caught the eye of an undercover officer in Denmark. Pretending to be an assassin, the officer established contact and set a trap.
The targets were twins Jamie and Aaron Small from Liverpool. The brothers, known locally in the UK as mixed martial arts fighters, had recently been in Cyprus on holiday.
Tracking the suspects
Cypriot police moved fast. On August 27, officers picked up three suspects, including two Danish citizens and an Irish national with ties to organized crime in Limerick, according to The Irish Times.
The Irish suspect claimed he was only paid to deliver an envelope with €1,000 to a resort town in Cyprus. Still, prosecutors allege he acted as the middleman for the hitman.
Swedish law enforcement also entered the case. They warned local police that a suspected hitman from Sweden had just landed in Cyprus.
All of Europe gets involved
The local police ultimately arrested five Swedish men. Officers found a handgun, masks, and plastic gloves during their search, though all five suspects denied wrongdoing and insisted they were just on holiday.
Undercover messages included photographs of the British twins alongside details about handguns allegedly retrieved from Turkey. The twins have since disappeared.
British police are also taking part in the expanding international investigation. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police confirmed to The Mirror that “the investigation sits with law enforcement in Cyprus. We are in contact with them to offer any support we can due to links with individuals from Merseyside.”
