Unknown persons have replaced a life-sized baby Jesus stolen from a crib in Marsascala playground, the locality's mayor, Mario Calleja, has confirmed.

The crib, made of recycled material, was inaugurated on Thursday by Resources Minister George Pullicino.

On the day before the crib was due to be inaugurated, somebody stole the baby Jesus. The organisers quickly replaced it with another Baby Jesus wrapped in bandages and strips of cloth.

It was only used for the inauguration and then taken to the mayor's office. The manger remained empty.

"Then two days ago somebody placed another baby Jesus there, wrapped in sack cloth," Mr Calleja said.

"We do not know who did it, but it fits in."

Another baby Jesus, displayed in a crib on the Regional Road, St Julians, was stolen earlier this week.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.