Sunday, 16th March 2008

Charged with illegally manufacturing fireworks

A 46-year-old man from Gudja was yesterday charged with illegally manufacturing fireworks and storing explosive materials in an unlicensed fireworks factory also in Gudja.

Francis Dalli was the second man to be charged with illegally storing explosives this week. He was arraigned before Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona and granted bail against a personal guarantee of €2,000 (Lm858).

Since Wednesday's explosion in Naxxar that killed two people and damaged several houses, the police had received several reports from people claiming that explosive materials are being stored in their neighbourhood. These claims were investigated by district police and most of them turned out to be groundless, a police spokesman said. On Friday 52-year-old Vincent Borg from Naxxar was charged with similar charges. He too was granted bail.