Cell ‘suicide’ after hammer attack robbery

MASKED, armed robbers ambushed a supermarket worker in broad daylight on the outskirts of Girne and attacked him with a hammer before making off with takings totalling more than £25,000.

Two men appeared before the town’s district court yesterday in connection with incident — and police sources revealed hours later that one had been found dead in his cell at Boğaz police station last night.

Ahmet Sarıkılıç was said to have hanged himself at about 6.25pm with his shorts drawstring.

Three people wearing balaclavas and believed to have been carrying a pistol had been in a car that forced Mehmet Ali Güngörmüş to stop near Zeytinlik as he was driving from the Bektaş store in Salih Miroğlu Caddesi to deposit cash at a bank at around 10.40am on Tuesday.

The windows of his car were smashed and Mr Güngörmüş hit with a hammer before a bag containing 198,135TL, £200, $402 and 195 euros in cash and cheques worth 5,855TL was snatched from him. He received five stitches to head wounds.

The court heard that within an hour of the alarm being raised, police had discovered the car used in the robbery parked at the back of Zeytinlik cemetery, and were able to trace the suspects because one of them had advertised the vehicle for sale on social media.

Serkan Bilir and Sarıkılıç were remanded in custody for a further seven days yesterday on charges including robbery, assault and carrying an illegal firearm. A woman arrested earlier was released without charge.

Police sergeant Metin Düzener told the court on Tuesday that another man thought to have been involved in the robbery had left the country through Ercan airport and that a search was continuing for the missing money and a pistol.

Bektaş owner Gengiz Bektaş said: “This is the second robbery we have had in three years.”