Three arraigned over fireworks find
Mark Vella, 43 of Qormi and Carmel Spiteri, 63 and Carmel Ciappara, 39 both of Luqa, were this morning arraigned in court in connection with the discovery of fireworks in an export container on board a ship on Monday.
Mr Vella, a cargo handler, was accused of keeping fireworks at home without a licence, forging documents and making false declarations.
Mr Spiteri and Mr Ciappara were accused of illegally selling fireworks, carrying fireworks in a vehicle without a permit and illegally exporting or trying to export such items.
They pleaded not guilty and were all granted bail.
Their defence lawyers explained to journalists that the accused were taking part in a fireworks competition in Catania following an invitation sent to St Andrews Fireworks Factory. The firework launchers were sent to Catania a week before. They said that a number of Maltese had already bought tickets to attend the event.
In a separate case, two men, one from Togo and one from Somalia, were today remanded in custody after being found in possession of false Spanish ID cards.
Police Inspector Edel Mary Camilleri presented to the court two poor quality counterfeit ID cards where on the back, in the section for gender, the letter M was written. The accused, he said, did not know that M stood for Mujer which actually meant woman in Spanish. The numbers on both cards were exactly the same. He said the accused had claimed they paid €600 each for the cards and they apologised to the Maltese people for the problems they had caused.
Magistrate Michael Mallia remanded the two in custody as they had no fixed address and are awaiting repatriation.
9 Comments
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John Azzoparadi
Sep 3rd 2008, 17:44
It seems to me that most bloggers are missing the most critical point of this incident. And this is what appears to be a gross lack of security at the port and/or collusion. This is very dangerous and a huge security risk.
Charles Micallef
Sep 3rd 2008, 16:36
It will be interesting to find out where these fireworks where manafuctured, and again if under license or in a basement garage underneath someones apartment?
One would have expected that in the light of the various and recent deaths, full precautions would have been taken and the right documentation would have been obtained, it is frightening to note that some carry on irrespective and how easy it is to endanger people's lives.
J Ferro
Sep 3rd 2008, 16:13
I would like to know how fireworks are being sent to Gozo (Qala, Xaghra, Ghajnsielem, Rabat, etc.) from Malta factories (Qormi, Luqa, Mqabba, etc). When I read the festa programmes, they say that fireworks have been bought from such factories. Can Gozo Channel explain if such fireworks have ever been aboard its ships? Can Gozo channel inform the public whether other arrangements for such dangerous cargoes are in existance? Can Gozo Channel confirm whether on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (29,30,31 August 2008) fireworks from Malta have been boarded on its vessels at any time during the day or night destinated for Gozo feasts? As to the other bloggers, don't mix one case with the other. They are not the same cases.
A. Vassallo
Sep 3rd 2008, 15:28
Where these fireworks being smuggled out of Malta or not?
If they were not being smuggled out, than those arraigned in court should be in possession of all the necessary papers and documents, and thus should be found not guilty.
But if on the other hand, they really tried to smuggle fireworks out of the country, than this is a very serious crime and they should be severely punished if found guilty by the court.
It seems that we learnt absolutely nothing from the Naxxar tragedy and here we have accusations of storing fireworks at home. If found guilty, the guy should be punished heavily.
I could have been driving in front or behind the trucks on which the fireworks were transported, and I could have been killed if the truck exploded on its way to the port.
Joe Tabone-Adami
Sep 3rd 2008, 15:20
Anybody out there wishing to export the Mosta Dome or import an Atom Bomb. Not that difficult!
Pierre Aquilina
Sep 3rd 2008, 15:15
I'm sure this thing happens every year during the various fireworks competitions held in Valletta. A lot of the participants come from Gozo, so obviously they use the Gozo Channel to cross over to malta. It is very worrying. These competitions should be banned as soon as possible before a major disaster happens.
John Azzopardi
Sep 3rd 2008, 15:03
A recipe for terrorism. Explosives and false identification, What is more worrying is that the cargo handler could not possible have acted alone to get the explosives inside the port area and onto the ship ready to leave harbour. Security is either very slack or he must have had inside help. How were the launchers exported? Also clandestinely? This is a grave security risk that should not be taken lightly.
dbugeja
Sep 3rd 2008, 14:57
Granted bail?
What if again another tradgedy occured and people died?
then we see the MP of both parties and the President of Malta visiting relatives of the victims and the nation is shocked for days.
Then we get people caught in smuggling illegal fireworks and they were all granted bail.
Martin Büttner
Sep 3rd 2008, 14:38
This is a serious crime. If people manage to smuggle such dangerous items onboard a container ship, I guess, not much is missing to do the same with high explosives used for bombs. What worries me most is the fact that one of the accused is a cargo handler with access to very sensitive areas. I believe that he should loose his licence as a cargo handler, access to ports should not be granted to him anymore.
Whatever excuse they gave, it is a crime. Even if a hundred thousand people were waiting to see their fireworks display, it was illegal!