Malta police for Sicily today

Assistant Commissioner Andrew Seychell, Immigration Inspector Sandro Zarb and Homicide Squad Inspector Christopher Pullicino are today expected to go to Sicily to meet their Italian counterparts investigating the death of Chinese immigrants off Sicily.

Six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants died on March 24 and three are still missing after they were forced at gunpoint to jump from a speedboat into the freezing sea about 15 nautical miles off the Sicilian coast. Six were rescued by the Italian coastguard.

The Maltese police had made a request so that investigators could go to Sicily to assist in the inquiry soon after the tragedy but it was only on Saturday that it was learnt that the Italian police had accepted to share information.

The police in Malta have been investigating the case and have seized a number of powerboats and arrested a number of people, a few of whom are known to have been re-arrested after being released.

The police are waiting for results of forensic tests on some of the boats.

The police have also spoken to diplomats at the Maltese Embassy in Beijing as part of investigations to establish whether there were any irregularities in the issue of visas to Malta.

The Italian police allege the Chinese were obtaining visas to enter Malta under the pretence of studying English and then leaving Malta illegally to cross over to Sicily.