Weekly News highlights

An explosion claimed the life of 13-year-old Maltese boy Alured Bouslama last Sunday night; it was the result of an afternoon of playful mischief with fuel and fire.

Sources close to the police said the boy was in a tool room with his brother and friend, both 14, when the fuel they were trying to ignite exploded at around 9.30 p.m. The room is in Annetto Caruana Street in the middle of a large field in Qawra, behind the town church.

Alured's lifeless body was recovered from the room only after the Civil Protection Department doused the fire.

His brother and friend were taken to hospital where they were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation, the police said.

Boy critical after tractor fall

Six-year-old Nickovic Chircop was critical after he was caught under the wheel of his father's tractor in the limits of Rabat last Sunday.

The police said the boy was a passenger on the tractor that was being driven by his father when for some reason he fell as the tractor was in motion.

Arson suspected at University

Flames engulfed a storeroom within the University's biochemistry department on Monday after two mobile homes situated outside, right under its window, caught fire at about 4.45 p.m.

Nobody was hurt and students and people were evacuated, as firemen from the Civil Protection Department battled for nearly an hour to control the blaze.

The police are investigating. However, sources said it seemed the mobile homes were purposely set alight. The wind swept the flames against the building's window and papers and cardboard inside the storeroom immediately caught fire.

Bones found probably animal remains

Bones recovered from the seabed off Delimara Point are likely to be animal and not human remains, sources said on Monday.

The bones were possibly placed by fishermen in a wire cage to trap octopi.

There was initially a suspicion that they could be the remains of Brian Rosso, a businessman allegedly dumped into the sea after being murdered in October 2005. The area is close to the spot where a search for Rosso was carried out by divers a few months ago.

Extradited man charged

After being extradited to Malta from The Netherlands, 31-year-old Hasan Bel Salah, was escorted to court under arrest on Monday and charged with conspiring to deal in drugs over the course of seven years.

The Moroccan-born Dutchman, who pleaded not guilty to conspiring to deal in cocaine and cannabis resin in June 2002 and the previous seven years, was remanded in custody.

Boy on danger list

A 12-year-old was fighting for his life after he was run over by a van while crossing the bypass at Ghaxaq on Monday.

Convict charged with Cassone murder

Melchior Spiteri, 31, who was convicted dozens of times for crimes, including murder, on Tuesday was charged with killing an Italian chef at a St Julian's outlet almost 14 years ago.

Spiteri remained silent during his arraignment, so his plea was registered as not guilty.

Spiteri, who is serving a prison sentence, was charged with the murder of Vittorio Cassone at about 6.30 p.m. on January 13, 1993, at Chef D'Italy in Birkirkara Road, St Julian's.

He is currently serving a 30-year jail sentence after he was convicted of fatally shooting Jason Azzopardi, known as Is-Sufu, in Cospicua on October 22, 2001.

More commuters park and ride

In its second day since its soft launch on Monday, the Park and Ride site outside Floriana on Tuesday witnessed double the number of cars that were parked on Monday, an outcome Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett hailed as a success.

Initially, commuters were slow to warm to the scheme. By 3 p.m. on Monday only some 350 cars had used the parking area, a figure which went up to 500 by the end of the day.

On Tuesday, the Minister was told by transport authority officials as he toured the site that by 1.30 p.m., around 650 cars had parked and that about 600 drivers had used the shuttle service. In contrast, only 280 had used the service on Monday.

Daring hold-up on bypass

Three armed and hooded robbers staged a daring hold-up when they stopped two men in a car on the Birkirkara bypass early on Tuesday morning and made off with a substantial amount of money. No-one was injured.

The two men, aged 71 and 34, from San Gwann, were driving home when a Hyundai Accent blocked their way, the police said.

Five plead guilty over minor's porn film

Five men - 22-year-old John Martin, of St Venera, his cousin Lee Martin, 28, of Guardamangia, Emmanuel Theuma, 49, of Hamrun, Derek Lee D'Amato, 26, of Ghaxaq, and an 18-year-old of St Venera - on Tuesday admitted to their involvement in filming and circulating pornographic images of a 16-year-old girl in Luqa and Hamrun this year.

The men were charged in five separate arraignments before Magistrate Joseph Cassar who ended off each case with cautionary words of advice.

John Martin, the first to be charged, was given a two-year jail term suspended for four years after he admitted to defiling the girl, filming pornographic material and circulating it. He was the only one charged with defilement.

His cousin, Lee Martin was fined Lm300 after admitting to his involvement in filming and circulating the footage in the form of a DVD and relapsing.

The 18-year-old was conditionally discharged for three years while Theuma and D'Amato were each fined Lm200 for their involvement in the making and/or circulation of the material.

Inmate charged with threatening MPs

Prison inmate Mario Camilleri, 44, known as Mniehru, on Wednesday was charged with verbally threatening Labour MPs Anglu Farrugia in a phone call and José Herrera at the law courts last month.

Camilleri had been jailed for 12 years and fined Lm25,000 for trafficking in cocaine.

Man spared hefty fine

Joseph Galea, 57, was spared a hefty fine that could have exceeded Lm90,000 last week, when he was cleared of failing to demolish an illegal garage for 10 years against a Lm25 daily fine.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani cleared Galea on the grounds that his identity had not been confirmed by the police and documents exhibited as evidence were not legally acceptable.

Ecstasy pusher jailed

Dunstin Brownrigg, 22, from Tarxien, was imprisoned for five years and fined Lm2.500 on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to trafficking Ecstasy.

Brownrigg was accused of dealing in Ecstasy on September 23, 2004, after drug squad police officers found him in possession of 868 tablets.

Heroin trafficker jailed

Elvis Falzon, 26, of Marsascala, was jailed for 15 months and fined Lm400 on Thursday for trafficking heroin.

Seized bird skins worth over Lm11,500

Joseph Vella, a Customs evaluation officer, told the court on Thursday that a number of bird skins imported from Egypt were estimated to cost over Lm11,500.

Vella was testifying before Magistrate Michael Mallia in the case against Henry Borda, of Zabbar, and Kenneth Ellul, of Kirkop, who stand charged with importing about 300 skins of protected birds from Egypt on August 22, 2002. They are also accused of evading VAT and import duty.

Man wanted by the police

The police are looking for a man known as Faical Mahouaci in connection with the investigation of a crime. Without giving any other details, the police said a court decree had also been issued for the man's arrest.

The police can be contacted on 2122-1111 or via any police station.

Unlicensed car lands man in jail

Abdul Baset Dabia, a 37-year-old Libyan, was jailed for a year and fined Lm1,500 on Friday for driving a car without a licence and without insurance cover.

The man was originally charged with the theft of a vehicle and with having encouraged another person to commit a crime in September.

His co-accused, Mustafa Kabes, had been jailed for eight months after he admitted to stealing two mobile phones and other items and relapsing.

Ministry official wins libel damages

Claudio Grech, head of secretariat at the Ministry for IT and Government Investments, was awarded Lm1,000 in libel damages by Mr Justice Gino Camilleri on Friday.

Mr Grech claimed he had been libelled by a report on Super One TV which included allegations that later resulted were untrue.

Youth jailed

Last week a 22-year-old from Pembroke was jailed for one and a half years for attacking and seriously injuring another youth in 2000.

Girgenti open weekend raises over Lm7,600

The first open weekend at Girgenti Palace, the prime minister's official summer residence in Siggiewi, also known as the Inquisitor's Palace, held yesterday week, generated Lm7,616 in aid of the Richmond Foundation and the Mental Health Association.

The Prime Minister's wife, Catherine Gonzi, who set up the two organisations in 1993 and 1998 respectively and under whose patronage the event was held, presented the money to the two NGOs on Friday.

Man with 'colourful' record jailed

Silvio Buttigieg, 30, from Cospicua, was jailed for two years on Friday after he was found guilty of a series of thefts in 2004.

Buttigieg had been arraigned along with Stephen Mifsud, 31, and Pauline Pisani, 18.

His accomplices admitted to the charges brought against them and were scheduled to be sentenced separately.

Hunters shoot osprey

A young osprey was gunned down by hunters on Friday, despite being kept under constant watch by soldiers patrolling the southern coast.

Luckily, the bird was fished out of the sea and rescued in the nick of time by members of the army's Maritime Squadron, who were conducting a routine early morning patrol against illegal hunting off Zonqor coast when an osprey was spotted flying about 20 metres off the shoreline.

The wounded osprey was taken to the Maritime Squadron's base in Haywharf, Floriana, and was later handed over to environment officials who took it for further treatment at the International Animal Rescue.

Two taxidermists were arrested on Wednesday afternoon after police found a number of carcasses of protected birds in their possession.

The two men, from Birzebbuga and Zebbug, were still helping the police in their investigations on Wednesday night as it is understood they are looking for a number of other dead eagles after a flock of them was massacred over the weekend.

From Birzebbuga they seized nearly 100 specially protected species and from Zebbug a number of freshly mounted and freshly skinned protected birds.

Meanwhile, as many as 24 protected short-toed eagles are believed to have been shot in what BirdLife president Joseph Mangion described as "a killing frenzy" by a group of hunters over the previous weekend.