Investigators probing the explosion of a bomb placed inside Martin Cachia’s car last Saturday are looking into the possibility of a link with an arson attempt on a St Paul’s Bay residence late last year, the Times of Malta has learnt.

Sources close to the investigation said that the police believe there was a connection between the death of 56-year-old Cachia and the fire at the residence where Mr Cachia’s son lives.

The father of four was driving a car through the Marsascala bypass last Saturday morning when the bomb exploded. The blast hurled Mr Cachia on to the back seat and left a gaping hole under the driver’s seat.

An autopsy on the badly burnt corpse yesterday concluded that Mr Cachia died as a result of the explosion and not the resultant fire that engulfed the vehicle.

The blast occurred at a bend on the bypass, a few metres away from the traffic lights and not far from Chef’s Choice Supermarket. The car – a red Alfa Romeo not registered in Mr Cachia’s name – then travelled some 80 metres before crashing into a wall.

Sources said that while the investigation was still in its early stages and police were still trying to establish certain details, they were looking at the possibility that the explosion and the arson were connected.

“Investigators are bound to look at everything to be able to build the puzzle. It could very well be that the arson was a warning,” the sources said.

Investigators are bound to look at everything to be able to build the puzzle. It could very well be that the arson was a warning

They added that the target of the fire had been Mr Cachia’s son, but it could be that the father was also a target. They said that investigators were also trying to establish whether the explosive device was being transported by Mr Cachia or intended to target him.

However, they also said that Mr Cachia had often left his Alfa Romeo unlocked, making it plausible that the person who was meant to attach the bomb to the vehicle planted it inside once he had found it so accessible.

Ballistic experts appointed by the court are conducting tests to establish what type of explosive device had been used. They are so far unable to say whether it was a homemade bomb or if it was similar to previous car bombs used in recent years.

Some of the car’s parts came off the vehicle before it hit the wall and these are also being analysed.

The police are looking into Mr Cachia’s past, especially his court cases involving drugs and contraband cigarettes, as well ashuman smuggling.

Mr Cachia, a registered fisherman, was facing charges related to human trafficking. In March 2013 he was charged, along with four Egyptian men, of smuggling 20 men into Malta. The migrants had been found hidden inside the hold when the boatwas intercepted.

Until the day before he died, Mr Cachia insisted that he had no knowledge of the human smuggling operation and was prepared to disclose who he believed was its mastermind.

The four Egyptians were convicted and then released last November, sources said.

The incident echoes a number of similar accidents, most recently the one in June 2014, when Darren Degabriele, a 35-year-old restaurateur, was killed after a bomb blew up in his vehicle as he was driving towards Marsaxlokk.

From alleged sales of counterfeit DVDs to human smuggling

Martin Cachia, who died in a car bomb explosion, would have celebrated his 57th birthday in March.

The man, who is listed as a “fisherman” in official documents, owned a trawling boat by the name Liberty V.

However, sources in the fishing industry said yesterday Mr Cachia was not known to be a fisherman himself.

“He owned a trawler and although he was listed as a fisherman, he was not known to be one and was referred to in fishing circles as Tal-Monti,” the sources said. The reference is to Mr Cachia’s other job as a monti hawker.

The boat was allegedly involved in a human smuggling operation in 2013. Mr Cachia, as the registered owner, and four Egyptian crew members, including the captain, were charged with trying to smuggle 20 irregular migrants into Malta after the boat was intercepted at sea.

In June 2014 the fishing boat captain Mohamed Hegazy, 38, and Ab-dou Elbahlawan, 28, Mohamed Barakat, 33, and Mohamed Elrawady, 34, pleaded guilty instead of standing trial by jury.

Mr Hegazy was sentenced to four years in jail and the rest of the crew to two-and-a-half years each.

Mr Cachia’s case is still pending and his last sitting was just a day before the fatal incident.

According to a court request filed by Transport Malta last year for the boat owners to pull the sinking vessel out of the water and place it on land, Mr Cachia was identified as master of Liberty V and representative of Liberty Fishing Company Limited.

A search with the Registry of Companies shows that Mr Cachia was once a director in the company but resigned in 2007. He holds no shareholding, but in December 2013 the registered office of the company was changed to his Marsascala address.

While the sequestered boat was berthed in Grand Harbour in 2013, Mr Cachia offered to temporarily shelter a friend on the boat after he found himself in trouble. The friend had been charged in court for breaching bail conditions when his mother kicked him out of the house and he needed a fixed address.

Mr Cachia’s history is chequered. He has faced charges on allegedly selling counterfeit DVD items from a stall in Valletta. In one of the cases, going back more than 10 years, he was co-charged with his then 17-year-old son.

Mr Cachia also had a pending drug-related case.