Weekly News highlights

The body of a 40-year-old Maltese was recovered from the sea close to Lascaris Wharf in the Grand Harbour on Sunday.

The police said they were informed that a body could be seen floating in the area at around 5.30 a.m. The man, who has been identified, was last seen alive yesterday week.

A red car which the police said belonged to the man was later lifted from the harbour waters. A post-mortem was held on Monday.

Migrant escapes from St Luke's

AN illegal immigrant escaped from St Luke's Hospital yesterday week while in police custody. The police said the 30-year-old Tunisian escaped at around 8.40 p.m. Immigration police officers and district police are leading the investigation and searching for the man.

Bomber suspect released

A Cospicua man on Monday helped the police in their investigation of yesterday week's bomb blast that police believe was intended to kill a woman - it ended up injuring two passers-by - 60-year-old Tessie Grima, who mistook the bomb for a bag of rubbish, and Angela Bondin, 48, of Paola, who helped her move the presumed rubbish bag.

The man had to be released in the afternoon after the 48-hour arrest period lapsed.

The explosion occurred at about 12.45 p.m. in Triq il-Madonna tal-Hniena, Zejtun, and the two women were rushed to hospital, suffering from burns.

The police suspect the bomb was intended for a woman from Cottonera who visits her mother in Zejtun and always parks her car in the same place at the same time. It is also believed that the person held by police on Monday is facing a separate murder charge.

Jailed for handbag robbery

Silvio Buttigieg, 32, of Cospicua, was jailed for 30 months on Monday after he admitted to robbing Anna Scerri's handbag five years ago.

Buttigieg was charged with breaking into Knights Bar and Restaurant in Paola on April 6, 2000, stealing over Lm100 worth of items and relapsing.

Pregnant woman denied bail

Amadeo Grima, 25, and Claire Cassar, 31, of Kalkara, who is pregnant, on Monday were remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to stealing three cars and to fraud.

Ms Cassar, who was almost five months pregnant, at one point said she would like to have her baby outside prison. Since Ms Cassar had already been in prison for about a month and having been denied bail over another court case, their request for bail was denied.

€40,000 stolen in hold-up

A Swieqi man, aged 25, was slightly injured in a scuffle after he was attacked by a man who stole about €40,000 from him on Tuesday. Two men on a motorbike stopped the Swieqi man as he drove his car in Triq Guzeppi Calì cornered with Triq San Gwann tas-Salib, in Ta' Xbiex. One of them went up to the man, attacked him and took the money.

The thieves escaped on their motorcycle.

Thousands of counterfeit shoes seized by Customs

Four containers of counterfeit shoes, bearing Nike and Adidas brand names, which came from the Far East bound for Morocco and Algeria were seized by Customs over the past few days. More than 27,000 pairs of fake sports shoes were also discovered.

The goods were described in the bill of lading as water taps and shoes but officers realised there were discrepancies between the container manifests and the scans carried out using the Vehicle and Container Inspection System (VCIS).

AFM rescue three men

Three men on a boat were on Wednesday escorted safely to shore after being lost at sea for several hours - probably due to low visibility.

The boat was located by an Armed Forces of Malta aircraft. The vessel had left Comino early in the afternoon bound for Filfla but got lost along the way. It was sighted about 30 nautical miles to the south of Dingli later in the day.

A patrol boat was deployed to the area and escorted the vessel with its occupants to the AFM's maritime base at Haywharf in Pietà.

Freeport to invest €40 million to boost operations

The freeport has launched a €40 million investment programme aimed at expanding facilities and enhancing equipment.

The investment follows the completion of the privatisation programme last October and will ensure it is geared to continue handling the largest container vessels afloat, thus securing a larger share of the Mediterranean transhipment market.

In November, the Freeport will be handling two vessel calls of a 9,000 TEU+ capacity on a weekly basis. To enable it to handle vessels of such size and larger ones, it will invest in four quay cranes able to reach 22 containers across the vessels.

Infrastructural works will also be taken on Terminal 1 for the fitting of rails for the cranes. The works will be completed by summer next year in time for the arrival of the quay cranes.

Woman run over by bus

A Cospicua woman, aged 65, was critically injured after she was run over by a bus in her hometown on Wednesday morning.

The woman, who was crossing St Paul Street when the accident happened, was rushed to hospital where she was found to be in danger of losing her life.

Charged with raping niece repeatedly

A 23-year-old man, who cannot be identified by court order, on Wednesday was charged with raping his niece, a minor, several times.

The man pleaded not guilty to repeatedly raping and defiling the girl, who was nine years old, between 1998 and 1999. He was remanded in police custody.

Sea Malta chairman resigns

Sea Malta chairman Marlene Mizzi announced her resignation on Monday and harshly criticised the government over its decision to sell the company. In a hard-hitting letter she sent to the Prime Minister, she described the government as foolish and shortsighted.

Last Wednesday week, the government signed a memorandum of understanding for the transfer of Sea Malta shares to Atlantica SpA di Navigazione, a company belonging to the Italian Grimaldi Group.

Opposition Leader Alfred Sant has called for a thorough, independent investigation into the privatisation of Sea Malta and accused the government of adopting "expired neo-conservative policies".

In the meantime, Mimcol chairman Ivan Falzon on Wednesday was appointed chairman of Sea Malta, succeeding Ms Mizzi.

Jailed for drug possession and theft

Ronnie Muscat was jailed for two years and fined Lm200 on Friday when he admitted to breaking into a car and to drug possession.

Magistrate Abigail Lofaro heard Muscat plead guilty to the possession of heroin, stealing a car stereo from Catherine Balzan's vehicle, damaging it and relapsing in January 2002.