Police tighten net around human traffickers

The police have made several inroads in their inquiry into the trafficking of Chinese migrants and expect to arraign more people in the coming days after charges were pressed against five men last weekend, police sources said.

A Chinese national is expected to be charged shortly in connection with human trafficking.

At least one Maltese person is expected to be charged with trafficking Chinese migrants on March 3.

And one or more Maltese should also be arraigned over the case in which six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants drowned on Maundy Thursday. Three other migrants are listed as missing after they were allegedly forced off a boat at gunpoint a few miles from the Sicilian coast.

Another six who were in the same group of migrants were rescued by the Italian coastguard on March 24 and Malta police are keen to interview them. It is not yet known when the migrants will be brought to Malta as investigations in Sicily are still underway.

Four Maltese men were charged in court last Friday with aiding and abetting Chinese illegal migrants travelling from Malta to Italy. The charges refer specifically to the night between March 11 and 12, when 25 Chinese were ferried to Sicily.

In a separate case, a Chinese national, Lin Yi, 24, was arraigned last Saturday and charged with conspiracy in human trafficking operations as well as falsifying his passport. Mr Yi is believed to have been behind a case of human trafficking in December.

Sources said the charges were brought against him after investigations showed he acted as a middlemen, putting Chinese illegal immigrants in touch with people who eventually ferried the migrants to Sicily.

Other foreigners, who are also suspected of acting as middlemen, are still being sought by the police.

Malta police are still awaiting DNA and other forensic test results from the Italian police in order to compare them to samples lifted from a boat they had seized.

Traces of blood were found on a speedboat that had been just spray painted, presumably in a bid to eliminate the evidence.

Italian police are expected to arrive in Malta later this week with replies to questions posed by Maltese investigators who visited Sicily earlier this month. This information could prove to be crucial in solving the Maundy Thursday case, the sources said.