Hunt On for Missing Spy Suspect in Cyprus

Cyprus police said Thursday they'd stepped up their search for an alleged member of a Russian spy ring who vanished after skipping bail on the island nation.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said police had "no indications yet" that 54-year-old Christopher Robert Metsos had left the island or crossed over into its breakaway northern Turkish sector, which is recognized by no country other than Turkey.

However, a police official told CBS News that Metsos did not leave Cyprus "through any legal port," an allusion to the possibility that he may have fled the island via a port in the Turkish north.

Metsos, who says he is Canadian, is wanted in the U.S. on charges he supplied money to the spy ring that operated under deep cover in America's suburbs. He was arrested Tuesday in Cyprus as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary.

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A Cypriot judge freed Metsos Tuesday on a bail of 20,000 euros, and an additional 9,000 Canadian dollars, all in cash (about $33,000), according to his attorney.

Michalis Papathanasiou, the suspect's Cypriot lawyer, tells CBS News the bail was posted by the suspect himself - cash Metsos apparently had on him at the time of his arrest.

Katsounotos said Metsos failed to report to police in the southern coastal town of Larnaca between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. local time Wednesday according to the terms of release imposed on him Tuesday by a Cypriot court. That sparked the manhunt.

Police issued a fresh warrant for his arrest Thursday morning and a man hunt was well under way across the Mediterranean island.

The U.S. ambassador to Cyprus was due to meet the country's president for a pre-scheduled meeting Thursday. Metsos' case was expected to be a primary topic of discussion.