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Published : 23 Jun 2026, 02:34 PM
Cyprus police have claimed to have unravelled the mystery of Bangladeshi student Shahriar Ahmed Emon’s murder nine days after he went missing in the eastern Mediterranean island nation.
Investigators say a dispute over sharing a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot on a bus led to the killing of the 22-year-old.
On Tuesday, local media reported that the accused Bangladeshi national, identified as Shahin Babu, 22, confessed during police interrogation after a court granted an eight-day remand.
According to police testimony, Shahin had been living illegally in the Greek Cypriot-controlled part of Cyprus after crossing from northern Cyprus.
He told investigators he first met Emon on Jun 7 while travelling on a bus.
Emon had asked him to help find work and the two exchanged phone numbers.
Shahin claimed he later asked Emon to share his phone's Wi-Fi hotspot during the journey, but Emon refused and insulted him, leading to an argument.
Police say Shahin subsequently plotted revenge.
Investigators believe he bought a knife from a supermarket on Jun 9 and, two days later, contacted Emon with an offer of part-time factory work paying €50 a day.
Trusting the offer, Emon travelled by bus from his home near Oroklini on Jun 12 to meet Shahin in Kofinou.
Police say Shahin took him to a secluded area near the Kofinou slaughterhouse, where he stabbed him on a dark road, then strangled him to ensure his death before burying the body in a shallow grave.
After the killing, Shahin allegedly took control of Emon's phone and SIM card and staged a kidnapping to extort money from the victim's family.
Messages in Bangla were sent from Emon's phone to his father, Nasir Uddin, who lives in Greece.
According to the court's remand order, the first message arrived on the night of the incident.
Subsequent messages demanded a €35,000 ransom, roughly Tk 4.5 million, by Sunday and threatened to kill Emon if the money was not paid.
When the father asked to speak to or see his son, the phone was switched off.
After losing contact with his son, Nasir sought help from authorities in both Cyprus and Greece.
Using digital forensic tools, investigators traced the last signal from Emon's phone to the Kofinou area.
Police then reviewed CCTV footage and bus routes before identifying Shahin as a suspect.
Larnaca district police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) later arrested him.
Two mobile phones were recovered during the arrest, including one belonging to Emon.
Police also found Emon's SIM card active in Shahin's handset.
Following information provided by the suspect, forensic teams recovered Emon's decomposed body from a remote site in Kofinou on Sunday.
Investigators also recovered the blood-stained knife believed to have been used in the killing, along with Emon's personal belongings.
Prosecutors have brought multiple charges against Shahin, including premeditated murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for harm, extortion, demanding property through threats and illegal stay in Cyprus.
Emon was the eldest son of Greece expatriate Nasir from Raipura Upazila of Narsingdi.
He was the eldest of three brothers.
Family members said Emon had travelled to Cyprus on a student visa four months ago for higher education.
Alongside his studies, he worked part-time at a factory while living in Oroklini of Larnaca district.
