---
category: Country
summary: Cyprus is an Eastern Mediterranean island nation whose capital Nicosia, through
  the DEA/CIA front company Euramae Trading, served during the 1980s as a hub for
  Bekaa Valley heroin transit, PROMIS software sales to Middle Eastern countries,
  and CIA arms dealer communications.
tags:
- Country
- Cyprus
- Intelligence
- DrugTrafficking
- 1980s
---

[Cyprus](/places/cyprus/) is an island nation in the Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of [Lebanon](/places/lebanon/). Its capital, Nicosia, became a significant location for various intelligence and drug trafficking operations, particularly during the 1980s.[^1]

### Role in Drug and Intelligence Operations

Nicosia, [Cyprus](/places/cyprus/), served as a base for the [DEA](/organizations/dea/) and [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) operations, notably through the [Euramae Trading Company](/organizations/euramae-trading-company/). This company, described as a [DEA](/organizations/dea/)/[CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) "front," was established in Nicosia by the Cypriot Police Narcotics Squad. It functioned as a transit point for heroin from the Bekaa Valley in [Lebanon](/places/lebanon/), cash, documents, and bootleg computer software moving along the Beirut-Nicosia-U.S. pipeline. It was also intended as a meeting place for [DEA](/organizations/dea/) and [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) agents with informants and clients, a message drop for [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) arms dealers supplying [Iraq](/places/iraq/) and the [Mujahideen](/organizations/mujahideen/) in [Afghanistan](/places/afghanistan/), and a waiting room for [DEA](/organizations/dea/) confidential informants and couriers from [Lebanon](/places/lebanon/).[^1]

[Michael T. Hurley](/people/michael-t-hurley/), the [DEA](/organizations/dea/) Country Attache in Nicosia, had overall responsibility for [Euramae Trading Company](/organizations/euramae-trading-company/) and its initiative to sell [PROMIS](/programs/promis/) software to Middle Eastern countries for drug abuse control. [Michael Riconosciuto](/people/michael-riconosciuto/) claimed to have handled communications protocol and financial transactions for operations in [Lebanon](/places/lebanon/) from [Cyprus](/places/cyprus/), including those involving [Maurice Ghanem](/people/maurice-ghanem/) and [George K. Pender](/people/george-k-pender/).[^1]

[Lester Coleman](/people/lester-coleman/), a [DIA](/organizations/defense-intelligence-agency/) covert intelligence officer, worked in the office of [Euramae Trading Company](/organizations/euramae-trading-company/) in Nicosia. He claimed that the [DEA](/organizations/dea/), along with Cypriot, German, and British police, ran a "drug sting operation" code-named "Khourah" through [Cyprus](/places/cyprus/) and airports in Europe, which involved delivering heroin from the Bekaa Valley to the [United States](/places/united-states/). This operation allegedly used Pan Am Flight 103 as a "controlled delivery" flight, which later tragically exploded over Scotland.[^1]

---

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.