Four held over Naxxar fireworks discovery

The police are holding four men in connection with the discovery of fireworks made on Saturday in the basement of the Peace Band Club in Naxxar. The court was informed that an arraignment would be made in connection with the case yesterday but it was eventually called off, police sources said, confirming that the four men may be arraigned in the coming days.

Some 50 boxes of explosive material are said to have been lifted from the site in a swift operation on Saturday afternoon.

The raid was carried out at about 1.30p.m, after the police was tipped off about the presence of fireworks in a backroom in the basement.

The premises, which is in the main square on Labour Avenue, just metres away from a petrol station,was evacuated when the officers moved in with a team from the bomb disposal unit.

The find follows the March 12 Naxxar tragedy, which shocked the town when illegally stored fireworks exploded in the midst of a residential area killing two people and completely destroying three houses.

The club had issued a statement disassociating itself from the explosion, after it emerged that one of the deceased, 47-year-old Paul Camilleri, was a member of the Peace Band, which does not actually have a fireworks factory of its own.

Police sources said a link between Saturday's find and the March 12 explosion is not being ruled out. Incidentally, the magistrate who is leading the inquiry into the explosion, Miriam Hayman, is also the one probing the haul.

After the March 12 explosion, police had appealed for information about the illegal storage of fireworks and had arrested several people following a number of other finds.

Speaking to The Times yesterday, Victor Axiaq, the chairman of the Church's Environment Commission, which has been highly critical of the status quo in the manufacture and handling of fireworks, condemned the act.

"Obviously, the facts I have in hand are the ones I read in the papers but if it's another case of blatant breach of law we condemn it," he said. "We condemn that people make our law into chewing gum to suit their pastimes and passions..."

He insisted that there was need for urgent measures that were more rigorous in the way they ensured the safety of the industry, while pointing out that the Church has very little control over the bands, which often act independently of the Curia.

In a recent meeting between the Archbishop and organisers of the festas, Mgr Cremona had been very clear on the sort of behaviour the Church expects from enthusiasts, he said.

Both the Church commission and the pyrotechnics commission (a government-appointed commission tasked with making recommendations on improving fireworks regulation) had made a number of recommendations to improve the safety of fireworks production and handling but very few of these were introduced. "As we have been saying for some time now, we believe urgent action should be taken," said Prof. Axiaq.

In fact, the cogs have recently been set in motion for the setting up of the long-promised fireworks inspection unit in time for the festa season, while Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici also promised that change to the legislation was in the pipeline.