Police waiting to interview garage blast victim

The police have not yet identified whether the explosion in a garage in Birzebbuga belonging to Charles Butler on Tuesday was caused by a bomb planted there or by a device that was being manufactured on the premises, Police Commissioner John Rizzo said yesterday.

Mr Butler, 40, was seriously injured in the explosion and his condition is still unstable.

The police hope to interrogate him once his condition improves in a bid to obtain more details about the matter.

Answering questions during one of the meetings the police commissioner holds regularly with journalists, Mr Rizzo said the explosion was caused by a bomb containing explosive material that was illegal in Malta, but he did not elaborate.

The explosion occurred as Mr Butler moved around some tyres he had in the garage. Minutes earlier, his son Clive and two other men had just walked out of the garage.

Mr Rizzo said it was easy to gain access to Mr Butler's garage from the back.

Some years ago, a bomb was planted under Mr Butler's car but failed to go off.

Mr Rizzo said the 100 police recruits currently undergoing an induction course at the Police Academy, in Valletta would be sworn in after a two-month course instead of the usual four-month course. The aim was to be able to deploy them during the forthcoming EU referendum and local council elections on March 8, he said.

Although the course was crammed, greater emphasis is being placed on customer care and ethics.

The recruits are attending more lectures every day. Lectures are also given on Saturday, a day which, in previous courses, recruits dedicated to the upkeep of the academy.

Mr Rizzo explained that the police force was stretched to the limit with the distribution of the voting documents for the forthcoming elections.

After saying that an order for 2,000 raincoats had been placed, Mr Rizzo said there were members of the force who sold their new service uniform and raincoat to third parties and then complained they lacked such apparel.

Members of the police force are issued with a new uniform every year and a raincoat every three years.

"The new raincoats would feature the word 'Pulizija'," he said.

Mr Rizzo said a number of police stations had been upgraded including that at Marsascala and a new one was being opened in Pietà.

"God forbid that Marsascala would become a second Paceville. As things stand, the police station is closed when the police on duty are called out.

"I would rather see police presence in the community than having them at the station all day. There are localities where the station is manned by an orderly 24 hours a day but in other localities the police close down the station when they have to respond to calls by members of the community," Mr Rizzo said.