A Libyan Embassy diplomat, believed to be a secret service operative of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, is already being “seen to” and other similar cases are still pending, Ambassador Saddun Suayeh has confirmed.

Dr Suayeh had said he knew of these diplomats and that they could be deported but has not elaborated on any decisions taken and on whether the Foreign Affairs Ministry has been asked to have them removed from the diplomatic list as protocol requires.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry was equally evasive on any developments, saying: “We are in contact with the Libyan Embassy. Decisions will be taken jointly.”

Sources said negotiations were under way on at least three men who would be stripped of their diplomatic status and deported to Libya. Other embassies are on the alert for requests for travel visas from them.

Meanwhile, the president of the Malta-based Arab European Forum said he did not trust most of the staff at the Libyan Embassy, insisting they should be changed.

Mokhtar Aziz said the embassy was supposed to offer services to the Libyan society and employing Col Gaddafi’s spies “does not make sense”.

According to Dr Aziz, about four of the embassy staff are Col Gaddafi’s agents. One has already left, following “pressure on the embassy to let him go” but he would not be able to head for Libya. The remaining three were still active members of the intelligence services and their positions should be terminated immediately, he said, insisting that “no one can deny their long record of regime service”.

Dr Aziz said Libyan embassies under former Foreign Affairs Minister Moussa Koussa, who was involved in several international crimes over the past 30 years, were known to be intelligence services offices – “his butlers”.

He excluded Dr Suayeh from Col Gaddafi’s intelligence services, saying it was normal to appoint a “good man to cover up the embassy’s dirty work”.

Dr Aziz said the diplomats in question left Malta in 2010 only to be sent back once the uprising started. “Unfortunately, they are still here,” he said, adding that the danger they posed had eased since Tripoli was liberated.

The Sunday Times, which this week broke the story about the presence of the spies, quoted sources saying the men were never really considered to be a high-risk threat on account of their “clumsy” practices.

The men have been trailed over the past months by the Malta Security Service. One source said they would meet regularly in the same conspicuous location, making their movements easy to follow.

They were mostly involved in sabotage operations, trying to send intelligence back to Libya about humanitarian aid being shipped from Malta and to secure fuel consignments for the regime. However, a lot of this work was disrupted through counter-intelligence.

Still, Dr Aziz referred to a document, released by Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera, which it said was provided by the embassy in Malta and suggested that a number of Libyans who allegedly met with Goma Gomati (now the ambassador of the National Transitional Council to London) should be kidnapped.

The allegations on the Libyan Embassy document were denied by Dr Suayeh who had said the embassy staff could not change overnight but that there was no room for those whose hands were stained with Libyan blood.

Dr Aziz said Libyan activists in Malta, who had dual nationality, told him they received threats and reported these to the police and to the government.

Other Libyans believed to be agents, who were sent over in the past months, were denied visas after being flagged by the Security Service.