A 24-year-old Turkish Cypriot man was kidnapped and attacked with a knife in Limassol, the city’s police’s deputy operations chief Lefteris Kyriacou confirmed on Monday, following widespread reports of an attack.

“We were informed that a 24-year-old … was kidnapped in the evening [of Friday] in the Ayios Antonios area by three other people, who took him violently to an agricultural area, where they hit him and injured him with a knife and they believed him to be a suspect regarding recent cases of dog thefts,” he said.

He later added that the police are investigating “a case of kidnap and causing grievous bodily harm”, and that “developments are expected in the coming period”.

Earlier in the day, newspaper Phileleftheros reported that the man lives in Limassol, and that he had been attacked by “a group of Greek Cypriots”.

It also reported that the man underwent surgery on Friday night.