Casino' robbers 'spoke Maltese'
Robbers who raided the Casino di Venezia on Wednesday in a clock-work hold-up spoke Maltese and did not have foreign accents, staff and patrons have told the police.
Investigators suspect that the men were the same who unsuccessfully tried to force open a bank van exactly a month before in Sta Venera.
The casino hold-up is now believed to have involved six men: four entered the premises, one waited in the getaway car and another was in the boat alongside Fort St Angelo.
The men dumped their Pajero vehicle into the sea before dashing away in the boat, which has still not been traced.
The police said yesterday they had arrested a number of persons for questioning.
Among them was the security guard on duty at the entrance to the Vittoriosa waterfront on the evening of the hold-up. It is usually the practice for the security guard to ask those driving onto the quay for their details.
The investigators are also examining a wig and a scarf found inside the stolen Pajero. The clothing did not belong to the vehicle owner.
23 Comments
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n.camilleri
Feb 8th 2010, 08:42
for future thieves ... next time don't speak maltese ! lol
lzammit
Feb 7th 2010, 16:56
I suppose former Head of CID and later Commissioner of Police, the late Alfred Calleja has turned a couple of times in his grave. May he rest in peace.
Nathaniel Camilleri
Feb 7th 2010, 14:49
Its nice to have "Some" Maltese people speaking Maltese again...
charles briffa
Feb 7th 2010, 13:08
Titanic - The best video clips are here
Stefan Kottmann
Feb 7th 2010, 08:11
Seems to me that, as I said before, someone who knows how the coastal searches are carried out was involved. Now we know that the helicopters are not equpiied with nigh search facilities. By coincidence? I don't think the robbers were just lucky.
Maybe the car dumped off Dingli cliffs was for practice.
D. A . Agius
Feb 6th 2010, 21:46
@N.Lawrence
Quite true that it's unprofessional to talk on the job. However they are definitely learning fast!
If this is the same group from previous hold up attempts, it's quite sure that they are not the normal bunch of drug addicts running after the money for a quick fix.
N.Lawrence
Feb 6th 2010, 20:11
NOT very professional to talk on the job. They should have used a well rehearsed sign language. Oh, sorry, is this giving them ideas for the nest heist?
J.Tonna
Feb 6th 2010, 18:31
At last someone said " whatever is written here is purely for personal entertainment to whoever reads it."
When I get up down (up or down? 'meta nqum rih isfel') I try to login on these blogs early because they make my day better.
h galea
Feb 6th 2010, 17:39
Robbers spoke Maltese, could be from EU there they are bran washed in Maltese.
Stefan Kottmann
Feb 6th 2010, 17:15
@JTonna - I didnt find a flaw in their work. I just don't agree with arresting people instead of just questioning them. Especially if the arrested person is some inexperienced young security guard (I don't know about inexperienced, but the security guards at the entrance of the waterfront are often very young). And I did put forward my ideas - which basically are - don't be selective on whom you believe. For all you know, some visitors could have been planted there to say that ALL spoke Maltese, when in fact one or more did not speak at all. All to create the impression that no foreigners were involved, and to thus rule out some people as suspects. Is this not possible? How does such creativity hinder police work?
@Janet Bayes - I never said the perpetrators were not Maltese. I said maybe some of them weren't.
@Ivan Ellul - No harm in using some spare time to be creative. The guard was arrested. But the angler who saw the boat was not. Maybe the angler was lying?
Sure the police have more experience, whatever is written here is purely for personal entertainment to whoever reads it.
A. Borg
Feb 6th 2010, 16:56
Probably another HSBC Balzan hold-up, another Qorrmi bomb,another Qormi Hold-up,another St.Paul's Bay murder,another Butterfly Bar murder. Arrests yes,arraignment in court None!
I can't imagine how in this small island surrounded by cameras these crimes are not solved!
John A. Gauci
Feb 6th 2010, 15:27
Mr. W. Vella remarked that he was asked for identification when he visited the Casino. I and all the other
persons(about 20) too were asked for idenification before we went to the National Library main hall. Yet the records
were ignored when I reported that my 'hand pocket' vanished from the 'piegon hole' while I was working on some
newspapers!
John Azzopardi
Feb 6th 2010, 14:31
I almost laughed at this article when I read it. Robbers spoke maltese..............Why wouldn't they if they were Maltese. Like every nationalities and human beings, the maltese are capable of to take part in any crime. It was robbery, planned and if we have good intelligence work performed, I am sure they will be caught. Hope malta is up to the task of solving this crime. Sometimes I wonder if Malta has a intelligence agency performing detective work to catch our criminals. Too many crimes go unsolved in malta.
Ivan Ellul
Feb 6th 2010, 14:30
Thank god for these posts....now the Police know what to do and where to look.
Janet Bayes
Feb 6th 2010, 13:44
Well, for one minute there I thought that it was possible that "foreigners" to Malta were not to blame. Then someone said that the masterminds were not maltese. Does this insult the maltese, as not having enough knowledge to plan it - - - -or the foreigners for being scheming thieves? Maybe they were English speaking maltese with a Geordie accent??
Wenzu Vella
Feb 6th 2010, 12:54
I went to the casino with my niece once the last time I was in Malta, and had to have a photo taken and they gave me a card which I still have. So if these people where in the casino before they should be on some data base for the police to check.
J.Tonna
Feb 6th 2010, 11:36
@ Stefan Kottmann - it would be better if you try to help the police than to find 'the flaw' in anything they do. I am sure they are more experienced that you. Unless you have a different agenda.
Stefan Kottmann
Feb 6th 2010, 10:35
Maybe whoever was involved knows how the police carries out the investigations and left a scarf and a wig - which potentially contain hairs and skin particles - in the car in order to distract the police investigations. Maybe the angler was lying and the speedboat was a red one without a canopy. Maybe the perpretrators know the police/AFM personnel who search the coast, or maybe they know how they go about their work. And how many of them spoke Maltese? Maybe the masterminds were foreign, and only two or three of those who spoke were Maltese. One or more of them must have entered the premises before, so a look at the membership list would not be a bad idea. How many of these are criminals, people known to the police, policemen, and army personnel, and have any of these made significant lifestyle changes since the HSBC Balzan Hold up?
Paul Barrett
Feb 6th 2010, 10:22
So there we have it; not the Italian Job - presumably set the the music from mission impossible.
M.G. Farrugia
Feb 6th 2010, 10:13
The fact that the robbers spoke Maltese it does not mean that their is no foreigners involved. I am sure that not all the six involved spoke at any time. So this is another point the investigators have to check. The Sicilians who are vey near to our shores are experts in such crimes.
Stefan Kottmann
Feb 6th 2010, 09:56
Hmmm...something's fishy. These people seem to be quite determined and organised. My guess is not simply hardened criminals, but people with a background of some sort of formal training. I can think of three daring and well planned crimes - HSBC Balzan, the Van and the Casino, If I could make a bet, I would bet these are all the same people. How many such people can there be in Malta?
Secondly, I can't really understand the arrests. If there are really no clues, how do they arrest people instead of just questioning them? If the security guard is innocent, my heart goes out to him/her, because I can't begin to imagine the hassle. The security guard at the entrance is usually a very young person and I doubt that he/she needed to be offered anything of the loot for them to gain access. They could have just sped through or distracted him in one way or another. His/her involvement makes no sense, thus I can understand questioning, but not a pair of handcufffs.
F.Cutajar
Feb 6th 2010, 09:44
How about the Times Harbour Web Cam,for some help,in the investigation.
M.Falzon
Feb 6th 2010, 09:27
Isn;t there any security cameras around there. I am sure these men were on the place, the day before (or some days before) the hold up to do a dry run of the whole operation. They seem to be well organised in their doings. So they must have been there a couple of times to do a dry run of the whole operation. Going the full lenght of the pier right up to the place where they dumped the stolen car.