Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela this evening accused the opposition of trying to sow fear in the minds of the people as he explained that Schengen arrangements would continue to be held in abeyance and documents would be checked at the airport and the seaport even when CHOGM is over.  

The decision, he said, had been taken in view of current circumstances in order to protect the people and also to clamp down on rackets that had been revealed.

The rackets involved foreigners, mostly Syrians, using fake passports to come to Malta.

Mr Abela said the government, the Security Service and other security services have no worrying information which put Malta in any danger. The racket appeared to consist of irregular migration for purposes of asylum and work.

He said that on November 14 the police in Fiumicino airport in Rome stopped two persons who claimed to be French and who said they were travelling to Malta. They carried no documents and were sent back to France.

On November 17 two Syrians were arrested in Italy when about to get a flight to Malta. They had false French and Norwegian passports.

On November 18 in Bergamo another two Syrians with false passports were arrested. They had false Austrian and Norwegian passports. One of the men had some war photos on his mobile and this was being investigated.

The Italian authorities found that these Syrians had arrived from Austria and got false documents from a Somali person in Rome. This Somali person was identified and had since been arrested in Malta. 

The authorities found a link between these Syrians, using the same email address and two addresses in Malta.

They had been using the same credit card, which had been found. Its owner was being sought

On November 15 in Treviso another two Syrians with false IDs were arrested in Italy but in their case payments were made in Athens.  

Mr Abela said investigations were continuing, including the status of  the people who came to Malta and may have been granted refugee status. The activities of the  Refugee Office were being examined in this context.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Beppe Fenech Adami said the Opposition agreed with waiving the Schengen arrangements for the EU-Africa summit and CHOGM but a proper explanation was needed to justify the extension. Other countries, such as Italy had not lifted the Schengen arrangements.

If there was no threat or worrying information about Malta, why were the controls being extended? Indeed, media reports about terrorism were worrying in as far as Malta was concerned.

Furthermore, how many people had entered Malta irregularly under the racket which the minister had spoken about?

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the government did not base itself on information in the media but on the basis of what was reported be security services.

The Opposition, he said, was being destructive and alarmist.

This racket, he said, had not started in Malta. The false documents were not handed out in Malta.

But in terms of the Schengen arrangements, the country could not demand documents from arriving passengers.  Therefore the arrangements had to be waived. People arriving in Malta now had to present their passport or ID.

While there was no terrorism threat, one could not have people coming in with false passports.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said the Opposition was not given proper notice of this motion and he asked for time to reply. No time was granted.

Mr Abela said rules had to be observed and no one had asked the Opposition to walk out. He said the Opposition was clearly sowing fear and terror in the minds of the people, as evidenced by its media.

"The only threat we have in this country is not from terrorists but the opposition which is trying to alarm the people."  It had even been said that Malta was a new Jihadist destination.

The opposition, he said, had no coherent position on security and whether border checks should be retained even after CHOGM.