Migrant wanted in car fire probe

The police are looking for an immigrant they want to interview after the car of a soldier assigned guard duties at the Marsa open centre was set alight early yesterday morning.

Police sources said the immigrant, who resides at the Marsa open centre, may have had an accomplice as the soldier whose car, a Maruti 800, was burnt, reported seeing two men but only identified one of them.

The immigrant is considered a suspect and is wanted for questioning after he did not return to the centre.

The arson took place just outside the Marsa open centre at about 3.45 a.m.

The sources said the car's front passenger-side window was smashed with a bottle which was left on the ground next to the vehicle. Papers in the glove compartment were placed on the front seat and set alight.

The car sustained considerable damage, however, unofficial sources said it is still in working order primarily because the fire was put out shortly after its owner noticed the blaze and rushed to the scene. In fact, he put out the fire himself.

Officially the police said only that a car was burnt in Marsa but did not say arson was suspected.

The police sources, however, confirmed that the soldier, Robert Agius, saw two men flee the scene shortly after his car went up in flames.

He recognised one of them, saying he had had a problem with the man some time earlier and that the immigrant had threatened him. The soldier told the police he had broken up a fight between two immigrants and it was on that occasion that one of them, the suspect, threatened him.

The arson comes just over 24-hours after that of columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia. However, at this stage, the police investigating the recent spate of attacks say they are excluding any connection between the other attacks and the Marsa car fire, arguing that this latest incident seems to be limited to an issue involving the soldier and the immigrant.

Duty Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was informed of the case and opened an inquiry with the help of a number of court experts.