Ref: A00-300995 Case No. 871626 Macpherson II
Volume IV, Pages 17-32, Tuesday 13th June, 1989
(In the presence of the jury)
Police Superintendent ANDREAS DEMETRIADES:
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Mr. Demetriades, do you speak English?
A. I speak some English but I would prefer to have an
interpreter.
(The witness was sworn through an interpreter)
Examined by Mr. Temple
Q. Superintendent, what are your full names, please?
A. Andreas Demetriades.
Q. Are you still based at police headquarters in Nicosia?
A. Yes.
Q. I want to ask you in a moment about the substance of some
twelve telephone calls which you received between 28th April
and 14th May 1987. A. Yes.
Q. During the course of those telephone conversations were you
speaking with two apparently different people? A. Yes.
Q. And their names? A. The first one was Digsby.
Q. Did Digsby tell you who he worked for? A. Yes.
Q. Which was? A. He told me he worked for the Ministry of
Defence in England.
Q. The second name? A. Symeon Cambanellos.
Q. Did Cambanellos tell you his nationality? A. He was - told
me that he was Cypriot but born in England.
Q. The conversations with Digsby were in Greek or English?
A. They were in English.
Q. And with Cambanellos? A. In Greek.
Q. One other matter by way of introduction: when you were
speaking with Digsby did you use your own name or some other
name? A. I did not use my own name but another name, that
is Frixos Nicolaides, as the ex-chief health inspector.
Q. Did you give Digsby that information? A. Yes.
Q. In your capacity as the ex-chief health inspector, did you
give Digsby any special telephone number where he could
contact you? A. No, I did not give that 'phone number,
someone else did.
Q. Let me see if I can test your memory --- A. It was 425313.
MR. TEMPLE: Can I just ask you to pause for a moment. Members
of the jury you may like to look at your document 133. My
Lord, the particular document we are looking at was found in
Strickland Court. The only point is that if you look in the
left hand side, about a third of the way down you can see
"Frixos Nicolaides", with the telephone number in question,
"ex chief health inspector". (To the witness):
Superintendent, can I indicate the way in which I would like
to take you through your evidence. What I would like you to
do stage by stage is to summarise for us the substance of
your telephone conversations, first with Digsby and then the
same exercise with regard to Cambanellos. I do not want to
interrupt you unnecessarily, so perhaps you can judge the
speed of your evidence with the speed of writing.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Are we going to look at any
documentation?
MR. TEMPLE: Yes, my Lord. (To the witness): The second stage
I want to take you through is that I am going to invite you
to look at some summaries which have been prepared of your
various telephone conversations. Members of the jury, what I
want to do is ask this witness to take you through the
substance of those telephone conversations untramelled [sic], as it
were, by any documentation. (To the witness):
Superintendent, can we start off, please, with the summary
which you can give us of the more important facts surrounding
your conversations with Digsby. A. When I received the
first 'phone call he told me he was Digsby and that he worked
for the British Ministry of Defence and that he was informed
through an agent of his that there were some threats made,
some blackmail made against Cyprus and that he was in a
position to help. The way he could help was for us to give
money which had been asked and which was 15 million. In that
way the damage to Cyprus would have been averted - would be
averted and that immediately afterwards they would arrest
that team and they would recover the money which would return
to us.
Q. A matter of detail: did Digsby suggest he was going to
arrest the team unaided? A. No, he would have been
arrested via international law. He would be arrested
officially.
Q. Was anybody going to assist Digsby? A. I do not remember.
Q. Was anything said by Digsby with regrd [sic] to the devices?
A. Yes, he said they were buried inside Cyprus possibly.
He gave me an explanation about these devices and that they
could be put in operation with the press of a button.
Q. What was Digsby's view as to Force Majeure? Was it in his
view all a joke or serious? A. That it was very serious
and that this had been done in other countries too and one
country paid $100 million, and that the same thing was
happening in a neighbouring country to ours.
Q. That is all I want to ask you at this stage about the Digsby
telephone conversation, except for one further question: did
Digsby give any indication that anybody else would be
telephoning him? A. At one stage Digsby did tell me that
he had someone in mind who spoke our language, that he was
slightly eccentric; he was an expert on the matter and that
he could help us.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: An expert in ---? A. On the matter.
MR. TEMPLE: When Digsby was telling you about this man, did he
give you a name? A. No, he did not.
Q. The same exercise, please, a summary as to the telephone
conversations with Cambanellos. A. When this person
'phoned me who gave me the name Symeon Cambanellos, he told
me that he was advised to 'phone this number.
Q. "This number", was that the special number which you had been
given? A. Yes. During our conversation he told me that
he had travelled a great deal, that he was expert on
electronic matters, physics, medicine, computers and that he
could help to locate the devices.
Q. Again just as a matter of detail, did he say which particular
devices? A. Yes, the PIGS, which means poison injection
generators.
Q. Did he tell you how he was going to do that? A. That he
would buy the special equipment. I cannot remember how he
ended, I think he said something about a scanner, that he
would have to survey the area with a helicopter which would
fly low and he would photograph the areas, and in this way he
would locate.
Q. He had mentioned equipment he wanted; did he require anything
else? A. Also he said he needed to go to Cyprus for this
purpose but he would have to be given a passport and he also
required to stay at the Hilton Hotel and said that he would
bring with him a girl who would assist him in the photo-
graphy. He wanted a chauffeur driven car and money to buy
the equipment.
Q. How much money? A. Twenty-five thousand pounds.
Q. Just see whether we can now tie together the question of the
£25,000. Just to go back to your conversations with Digsby,
did Digsby have any views on the £25,000? A. At one stage
when Symeon Cambanellos was talking to me, I asked him to
tell Digsby to 'phone me because it was Digsby, the one who
suggested that the Cypriot man could help us. He, after my
insistence, in fact told Digsby. He 'phoned. I told Digsby
about the offer and Digsby told me that if he was in
Cambanellos' position he would have asked for half a million.
Q. That is all I want to ask you about the summaries. In a
moment I want to look at the transcripts. Before I do so I
want to ask you about the impression given to you as to
whether or not you personally felt you were dealing with one
person on the telephone or two people. Let us approach it
in this way: when you spoke to Digsby and Cambanellos, were
the voice pitches the same? A. No, my impression was it
was two different persons which possibly were standing side
by side.
Q. What was the difference? A. The voice was very different.
MR. TEMPLE: Superintendent, can I please invite you to the
summary at page 9.
MR. BECKMAN: May I say they are agreed as far as they can.
There is a transcript that we have and it is equally agreed.
Anything we want to add in at any time that will be done. It
is to save time, and your Lordship will see will save a lot.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: So we will not be actually listening to
anything?
MR. BECKMAN: Unless anything specific arises either of us want,
I would have thought that is right.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: I hope not, because I am sure, quite
rightly, you have agreed all that you can of the contents.
MR. TEMPLE: Yes, my Lord. I think the jury will only need to be
trouble with listening to one of the tapes. I think for
everybody's purposes they would wish to listen to one tape.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: As this is read, Mr. Demetriades, will
you be able to follow it in English? A. Yes, I think so.
Q. You have seen it before, I understand, because you have given
evidence before? A. I have not seen this.
Q. But you have had an opportunity to read it in English?
A. Yes.
MR. TEMPLE: The date is 28th April. This is tape reference
AD/1.
"This is the recording of a telephone conver-
sation between Police Superintendent Andreas
Demetriades, who uses the name of Frixos
Nicolaides, and another man who calls himself
Colonel Digsby. This tape is dated 28th April
1987 and timed between 12.15 p.m. and 12.30 p.m.
Cyprus time.
"Digsby rings Andreas Demetriades (Frixos
Nicolaides) and introduces himself.
Mr. Demetriades tells him that Mr. Vovides
furnished him with a document and spoke to
him about Colonel Digsby. Mr. Demetriades'
role allegedly is to liaise with Digsby and
advise the President of Cyprus Mr. Kyprianou.
Digsby claims to be an intelligence officer
with the British Ministry of Defence. He
states that one of his undercover officers
has infiltrated an organisation called "FM"
but Digsby is unable to take any action
against FM until the danger is lifted from
Cyprus.
"Demetriades: 'Can you tell me what action
you are going to take against them?' Digsby:
'We are going to try to arrest them under the
international terrorist laws, but we cannot
do anything as long as you are in danger. If
we arrest them now their equipment will auto-
matically activate and Cyprus will be polluted.
It is up to you to eliminate the danger so
that we could take action and recover their
..... and detail the people involved. You
must realise that you are dealing with a very
sophisticated group.' Demetriades: 'That's
right.'
"Digsby: 'There is not much you can do. You
can either pay the ransom and the equipment
will be de-activated. Once it is de-activated
we could move against them and arrest everyone
involved. If you do not pay the ransom there
is a 100 per cent possibility that they will
demonstrate their abilities. They will set off
one of their units and poison a medium sized
town, and you will run into enormous problems.
Subsequently you will have to pay 30 million.
They don't give up easily.'
Demetriades: 'What is your advice on the
matter?' Digsby: 'The advice is logical.
What is your country worth to you? What
are the thousands of people worth if they
are contaminated with this poison? You have
to be prepared to pay the ransom. The chances
are that we will recover that money and - but
you can't seriously expect to survive that
sort of attack that will destroy your economy
and will poison your people for centuries.'
"Digsby then appears to answer any questions
that Mr. Demetriades wishes to raise with him
regarding the contents of the document.
Mr. Demetriades tells him that he has only
glanced over the document and will need a
few days to study it properly.
"Digsby: 'We expect you to receive the payment
signal within the next three to four days'.
Demetriades: 'Your opinion is to tell the
President to pay the ransom? Is this your
suggestion?' Digsby: 'This is the only
logical way that you could handle this problem.
What else can you do? Do you have an
alternative?' Digsby then suggests that a
search commences in Cyprus to try and locate
the PIG units. Digsby: 'We believe that
most of them are buried in the ground. This
has been the case in other countries. Also
you can detect buried in the ground objects
by using a proto-magnometer [sic] suspended from a
helicopter flying low to the ground. Another
way is to monitor the frequencies they are on.'
"Digsby then goes on to say that FM are not
open to negotiations. Digsby: 'Believe
them; if they say they will demonstrate, they
will demonstrate. And even a simple demon-
stration will cost your country $100 million
just to clear up the mess. They have done
this to several other countries. In one case
they demanded and received $100 million, which
makes them very powerful and gives them
unlimited resources.' Demetriades: 'Do you
know which country this was?' Digsby: 'I
am not at liberty to discuss that over the
'phone. It is known that they are now planning
their next operation on another country which
is not far from you.
"'What we want to do is catch them between
the time they de-activate your system and
activate the new system. We will catch them
when they have no power. The usual way they
work is to allow you approximately four hours
in which to respond to their demands once
they make contact with you.' Digsby then
promised to ring again on the following day.'"
There is then the note of the translater [sic] who prepared the
summary:
"It is of interest to note that the way Digsby
pronounces the names "Nicolaides" and "Kyprianou"
suggests that he has very good command of Greek
pronounciation [sic]."
Over the page, this is a conversation on 29th April, Exhibit
AD/2 and contains two conversations.
"The first conversation is dated 29th April
1987, and timed between 12.50 p.m. and 13.05.
It is of very poor quality and Digsby's voice
is almost unreadable. In this conversation
Mr. Demetriades tells Digsby that he is still
studying the document and that he is planning
to divide it into two categories: (1) chemical
and biological and (2) electronic and
technological. He wants to consult chemists,
biochemists, electronic engineers and computer
experts as well as meteorologists in order to
find out that the system described in the
document is feasible. He wants to be
satisfied that it is feasible before persuading
the President to pay out the ransom. He also
explains the laws in Cyprus prohibiting large
amounts of moneys to leave Cyprus. Also,
he claims that there is not such an amount
available in Cyprus in dollars.
"The second conversation is about Di-tox B7.
Demetriades: 'What is your opinion about
Di-tox B7?' Digsby: 'Di-tox is a very nasty
chemical weapon. If it is used against you
the result will be permanent. Has Nemo made
his ultimatum yet?' Demetriades: "I don't
know'. Digsby then claims that he knows of
a Cypriot who is an expert in these matters
and offers to locate him and ask him to
contact Mr. Demetriades.
"There follows conversation regarding mustard
gas. Digsby claims that it can be easily
manufactured by anyone. Demetriades: 'If
the money was paid, how could we be sure .....
to locate these devices and de-activate them
safely?' Digsby: 'Everyone that they have
carried out this operation, the payment has
been made and the people have been spared'.
Digsby tells Mr. Demetriades that he is of
the opinion Cyprus should pay the ransom."
Over the page is the conversation of 6th May between Digsby
and Demetriades who uses the name Frixos Nicolaides.
"Digsby tells Nicolaides that he has managed
to locate the Cypriot, who apparently is an
independent self-made millionaire with
business interests in many fields. 'He
allegedly is a little eccentric. He is in
fact a genius. He speaks your language.
He knows your country. He has been travelling
in Europe for the last three weeks, staying
in five star hotels'. Digsby: 'We have
finally tracked him down. We have said
nothing to him yet. All we will say to him
is "Please contact Mr. Nicolaides and he will
brief you. There is a project that may be
of interest to you. We'll leave the rest
entirely to you"'. The rest of the conver-
sation is mainly about the Cypriot Digsby
wants to introduce to Mr. Nicolaides, his
virtues and abilities."
On 8th May two conversations on this tape.
"This tape contains two telephone conversations.
The first conversation is in English between
two males. Male 1: Police Superintendent
Andreas Demetriades, who for the purpose of
this conversation adopts the name of Frixos
Nicolaides. Male 2: heavily scrambled voice
of a man who calls himself Digsby. The main
point of this conversation is that Digsby
offers to introduce an expert to Mr. Frixos
Nicolaides who allegedly can assist the
Cyprus Government and be a liaison between
Digsby and Nicolaides.
"The second conversation is dated 11th May
1987 and is between two males. Male 1:
Police Superintendent Andreas Demetriades,
who for the purpose of this conversation
adopts the pseudonym of Frixos Nicolaides.
Male 2 is a Greek Cypriot whose accent indicates
that he was either born in England or was
brought up in England from a very young age.
He introduces himself as Symeon Cambanellos.
"Male 2 rings Mr. Nicolaides and introduces
himself as Symeon Cambanellos. He explains
that he was asked by Colonel Digsby to get in
contact with Mr. Nicolaides. He claims that
his speciality is military technology. There
is conversation regarding Di-tox B7 (mustard
gas) and how it can be prepared by using easily
accessible detergents and a catalyst in a
pressure cooker. This gas will be buried
underground in reaction chambers and when
released can be lethal within two minutes of
it coming into contact with human beings or
animals. He explains that PIGS (poison
injection generators) can be detected by
use of a helicopter equipped with infra red
cameras.
"He offers his expertise provided (a) his
expenses are met by the Cyprus Government,
and (b) everything is secure for him. He
asks for arrangements to be made with the
Cyprus High Commission in London to pay him
some cash in advance.
"He claims that he will require a scanning
receiver which will cost £8,500 to purchase
and another piece of equipment which will
cost £4,000. His other requirements are
the hire of a helicopter, some other equipment
not specified (which will not cost a lot of
money to buy) his personal expenses of
£10,000 and hotel accommodation.
"He continues by claiming to be an expert
in the following fields: medicine, chemistry,
physics, electronics, computers, satellites,
telephones plus 'another 100 subjects'. It
is agreed that it would cost the Cyprus
Government £25,000 or thereabouts for his
service.
"Nicolaides: 'If we were to pay you these
moneys, the £25,000 or thereabouts, will it
save us?' Cambanellos: 'Yes. I will tell
you what I have in mind, what will happen
and what you are to do'. Nicolaides: 'And
what happens if we don't succeed?' Cambanellos:
'I don't know'. Nicolaides: 'They will
lynch me afterwards'. Cambanellos: 'No, no,
they will not lynch you. We will all be dead
in any case. What are you worried about?'
Nicolaides: 'You will be on your way back'.
Cambanellos: 'If I'm unlucky and I happen
to be over there at the time, what can I do?'
Nicolaides: 'Okay, Mr. Symeon. Ring me
tomorrow and we talk about it, okay?'
Cambanellos: 'Yes. I have some very good
ideas which you haven't used yet. There are
things you ought to have done and you haven't
done them yet'. Nicolaides: 'Right. You
tell me tomorrow'. Cambanellos: 'Yes'.
Then we move to 12th May.
"There are three conversations recorded on
this tape. The first conversation is between
a man who claims to be Mr. Symeon Cambanellos
and Police Superintendent Andreas Demetriades,
who for the purpose of this conversation used
the pseudonym Frixos Nicolaides. This is a
very lengthy conversation covering a number
of points.
"During this conversation Cambanellos states
that he was born in England and that there
are Greek words he does not understand. He
asks Mr. Nicolaides to use easy words only.
He also states that he is using his mother's
telephone for this call and that he is ringing
from London. He goes on to say for the last
four years he has been residing in Strovolos
area of Nicosia. He asks for £25,000 cash
to be made available at the Cyprus High
Commission in London for him to collect prior
to his departure for Cyprus.
"He then gives his personal explanation as
to the following: Di-tox B7. According to
him 'Di-tox' could be interpreted as double
toxic or die tox; i.e. toxic death. The
digit '7' in 'B7' could be the year of
manufacture; i.e. 1987 or 87. He also notes
that if someone were to write 'B7' in a hurry,
it could be made to look like '87' as in
'1987'.
"His interpretation as to why the demand is
signed in the name of Nemo is as follows:
Nemo was the name of the hero in Jules Verne's
book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and 'Nemo'
in Latin means 'nobody'. He explains that
'Force Majeure' is French for 'Act of God'.
Further to Di-tox B7, he states that this is
not the name of a known chemical compound
but that it is a brand name used by the
blackmailers. He assures Mr. Nicolaides that
the term 'Di-tox B7' will not be found listed
in any reference books.
"Apart from his request of £25,000 Cambanellos
asks for a passport in his assumed name of
Symeon Cambanellos. Mr. Nicolaides tells
Cambanellos that he is a retired health
inspector who was called in as an advisor to
the Cyprus Government for any possible
consequences. Cambanellos requests the
following to be made available for him during
his stay in Cyprus: a doctor to treat his
sprained ankle; two rooms on the top floor
at the Hilton; one room for a female photo-
grapher who will be accompanying him; one
office; one car with chauffeur.
"The above conversation is dated 12th May
1987. During this conversation Cambanellos
states that on the next day (13th May 1987)
he has to appear at court at St. Ives, Cornwall
for possession of an offensive weapon; i.e. a
knife. He tells Mr. Nicolaides that he has a
portable telephone and can ring him any time
from anywhere. There follows conversation
regarding the $15,000 ransom demand.
Mr. Nicolaides explains that there are
difficulties in raising that amount and that
there are restrictions as to that amount being
allowed out of Cyprus. Canbanellos tells
Nicolaides that Mr. Mavrellis, the Minister
of Finance is conversant with this demand.
"This conversation finished with Mr. Nicolaides
promising to make the necessary approaches for
Cambanellos' requests for £25,000 and the
passport. Cambanellos will be ringing
Mr. Nicolaides in an hour's time for the
result. The above conversation was timed
between 8.40 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.
"The second conversation is again between
Symeon Cambanellos and Police Superintendent
Andreas Demetriades, who uses the assumed name
of Frixos Nicolaides. This conversation lasts
for 38 minutes and is dated 12th May 1987. It
is timed between 11.35 a.m. to 12.13 p.m.
"During this conversation Cambanellos is
annoyed with Mr. Nicolaides who failed to
make the necessary arrangements for the
£25,000 cash and passport to be made available
for him at the Cyprus High Commission in
London. He asks Mr. Nicolaides for his
present location (address) but Mr. Nicolaides
refuses to disclose it to him. Mr. Nicolaides
also refuses to give Cambanellos his home
telephone number. Mr. Nicolaides insists
that Cambanellos contacts Colonel Digsby and
persuades him to telephone Mr. Nicolaides
in Cyprus."
"The third conversation is between Police
Superintendent Andreas Demetriades, who uses
the assumed name of Frixos Nicolaides, and a
man who gives his name as Colonel Digsby.
Digsby's voice is heavily disguised. On
this conversation Nicolaides enquires whether
Cambanellos' request for £25,000 cash is
reasonable. Digsby assures him that it is
very reasonable and advises Mr. Nicolaides
that they should not delay the matter. To
emphasise his point, Digsby says 'If I were
in his position I would ask you to make one
quarter of a million pounds available to me'.
Nicolaides says, 'How much?' Digsby says,
'One quarter of a million minimum'. Digsby
stresses that this is his personal opinion
and that nobody else authorised him to say
this.
"Digsby then goes on to say, 'If I did not
believe that this man could be of use to
you, I would not have suggested it to him
to telephone you in the first place'. Digsby
considered Cambanellos' request for a passport
reasonable as well. The above conversation
lasts for approximately 20 minutes and is
dated 12th May 1987."
Then the final stages, again on 12th May.
"The conversation on this tape is between
Police Superintendent Andreas Demetriades,
who uses the pseudonym Frixos Nicolaides,
and another man who calls himself Symeon
Cambanellos. Cambanellos tells Nicolaides
that he just had a call from Digsby telling
him that he, Digsby, made contact with
Nicolaides.
"During this conversation it is decided that
Nicolaides will be liaising with the government
all day tomorrow, 13th May, and Cambanellos
will ring him on 14th May to find out the
outcome. Cambanellos will be appearing at
court on 13th May, but offers to telephone
Nicolaides using the car telephone. Nicolaides
asks for all day tomorrow free so that he can
make his approaches. The above conversation
lasts for about 14 minutes."
We now come to 14th May 1987.
"This tape contains one conversation between
Police Superintendent Andreas Demetriades who
uses the name Frixos Nicolaides, and another
man who calls himself Symeon Cambanellos. In
this conversation Nicolaides tells Cambanellos
that the High Commissioner of Cyprus in London,
Mr. Panayides has been informed and instructed
to make £25,000 cash and a passport available
for Mr. Cambanellos. Cambanellos is going to
contact Mr. Panayides personally and then ring
Mr. Nicolaides."
Finally, we have tape AD/8, again dated 14th May 1987.
"Ths [sic] tape contains one conversation between
Police Superintendent Andreas Demetriades, who
uses the pseudonym of Frixos Nicolaides, and
a man who calls himself Symeon Cambanellos.
"Cambanellos rings Nicolaides and tells him
that he has been ringing the High Commissioner
with no good result. 'It's 9.15 a.m. and I
don't get any reply yet'. Mr. Nicolaides
suggests that Cambanellos keeps trying the
telephone number just in case the High
Commissioner does not get in to his office
that early. Cambanellos wants Nicolaides
to consult a botanologist and find out if
there are any plants such as the poppy - that
grown on freshly disturbed soil in Cyprus.
This, according to him, will assist in
pinpointing the location of the poison
injection generators."
Superintendent, does that summary, which I have covered
quickly, really give the gist, the outline, of the
conversations between you? A. Yes.
MR. BECKMAN: My Lord, all the additional matters I require are
contained on the tapes and can be abstracted at a convenient
moment. In those circumstances, merely to get a witness to
go through the exercise of reading out something we know to
be there is something I do not intend to do at this stage.
That being so, there are no questions.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: You will not want the witness back?
MR. BECKMAN: No, my Lord. There is a transcript, we have all
seen it and Mr. Demetriades can happily return to Cyprus by
this evening's 'plane.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Thank you for coming, Mr. Demetriades.
(The witness withdrew)
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