Boat ‘hijackers’ to be deported

Three of the 16 Egyptians caught trying to enter Malta illegally on Saturday had been recommended for a visa by a local auditor, The Times has learnt.

Certified public accountant and auditor Joe Sammut wrote to the Maltese Embassy in Cairo on August 17 recommending that four men, whose names and passport numbers he supplied, should be granted a visa to enter Malta to conclude the setting up of a business here. The visas were however refused.

The four men and another 12 Egyptians later allegedly hijacked a Libyan vessel and locked its Libyan captain and two-man crew inside the engine room.

On Saturday, three Armed Forces of Malta patrol boats were deployed to the Benghazi II, a refrigerated vessel which travels regularly to Malta to ship fish back to Libya, after the crew reported via a radio message that it was being taken over by the 16 people on board.

The Maltese soldiers negotiated the disembarkation of the passengers before boarding and securing the ship, which was then escorted to Malta.

When contacted, Egyptian Ambassador Abdel Mawgoud El Habashy said the 16 Egyptians would leave Malta today on a chartered flight and would be investigated by the authorities in Egypt in connection with their escape from the country.

“They will leave tomorrow (today) after having been treated very well by the Maltese authorities. In Egypt they will be investigated for leaving Egypt illegally,” he said.

Ambassador El Habashy said the men were under the impression they were going to Italy and asked for assistance when the Libyan crew, they claimed, started treating them badly following an argument. He said his co-nationals did not know they were around Malta but just asked for assistance because of the situation on the ship.

When they were brought to Malta, the police started investigating the possibility that the men were immigrants trying to enter Malta illegally especially since such vessels do not usually carry so many passengers.

Investigations revealed precisely this and the men have been held in custody until their repatriation today.

Hesham Salama Hassan Gad, Tarek Antar Salama Abouhussein and Ragheb Ibrahin Ragheb Hassan Hussein were three of the four people on board the ship who Mr Sammut had recommended for a visa to enter Malta.

Mr Sammut, a former Labour Party candidate and former party treasurer, had asked the Maltese embassy in Cairo to issue a visa to the men who were “proceeding to Malta for seven days during which they shall formalise the registration of a limited liability company in Malta and also the formalities regarding the corporate bank account”.

He said his “office and the undersigned are offering their professional responsibility as regards the truthfulness of this application as also for the duration of their stay in Malta”.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Sammut said he had recommended the four men after he received a request from an established client of his professional office and that his letter was not vouching for them but simply recommending they be given a visa to enter Malta.

He said he had not met any of the four Egyptians he had recommended and that after the visa was refused, he spoke to the ambassador about why the request was turned down. He then informed the men accordingly.

Soon after the request was turned down, the men left Egypt illegally and boarded the Libyan ship to reach mainland Europe.