The two main suspects wanted in connection with the murder of a Kent man in Cyprus have been arrested for trespassing in a military zone, it has been revealed.

Mehmet Akpinar, 22, and Salih Ahmet, 43, were captured in Kyrenia - a city on the north coast of the country - on Friday evening after police in the south issued a warrant for their arrest last Tuesday for the murder of Dartford's George Low in Ayia Napa two days prior.

However, according to the Cyprus Mail, the pair were in fact arrested for allegedly trespassing in a Turkish military zone and were remanded in custody for three days by a court in Nicosia.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 after Turkey invaded the north in response to a military coup, with the northern third of the island inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern two-thirds by Greek Cypriots.

This means that the warrant issued for their arrest by police in the south regarding the fatal stabbing of George is still outstanding, and - with local media reporting that the Turkish Cypriot authorities are "not cooperating in the case" - they are now expected to face charges regarding their alleged trespassing that could place them behind bars in the north.

According to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Yeniduzen, high-ranking Turkish Cypriot crime officials have defined the pair as a Turkish Kurd and a Bulgarian Muslim, but it is not known who is who.

On Wednesday it emerged that a third Turkish Cypriot man, from Nicosia, was being sought for helping them escape Ayia Napa, and Apinar's girlfriend was in court last week on suspicion of also aiding their getaway.

According to the Cyprus Mail, Koulla Anastasiou, a 49-year-old Greek Cypriot woman from Larnaca, told officers her boyfriend had confided to her that he and Ahmet had stabbed George and his friend Ben Barker, 22, following an altercation.

She said the argument was triggered when the men rebuked the Britons for urinating in public and admitted travelling to the holiday resort on the night of the killing to deliver a change of clothes to her boyfriend and then returned to pick up a phone he had hidden.

Ben, 22, was stabbed in the back multiple times. He survived the attack and has been recovering at Larnaca General Hospital.

Eyewitnesses insisted to KentOnline that the attack was "completely random", as tributes to estate agent George - who worked at Acorn Estate Agents in Bromley - poured in.

Speaking outside the family home in Ladywood Road last Monday morning, his father Martyn said "he could not wish for a better son".

“We just want justice for George and Ben, who has been left traumatised by all this" Helen Low

The tragedy has devastated the rest of George's family - mum Helen, 47, brothers Wesley and Oliver, 23 and 11, and sisters Laura and Millie, 29 and 17. They flew out to Cyprus on Tuesday in a bid to have George repatriated and are still in the country.

Speaking after the arrests, Helen said: “We just want justice for George and Ben, who has been left traumatised by all this. We want justice for them both and will now have to wait.”

More than £15,000 has also been raised in his memory since the attack, which took place on what was set to be the pair's last night of a week-long holiday on the Mediterranean island.

The Costa Coffee shop in Bluewater's West Village where Millie works is also taking donations.