An application for a police permit has been submitted for a fair in April which promised to be a “point of reference for lovers of weapons, hunting, fishing and the outdoors”.
The event, Caccia Village Malta, will be held at the controversial Montekristo Estates in Luqa, within a partly-sanctioned site at Ħal Farruġ. The organisers are also planning to have a temporary shooting range.
When contacted, a spokesman for the police said that usually, once an event was being held in controlled and licensed private premises, there was no need for a police permit.
“However, due to the nature of this particular event, which involves the use of weapons and a proposed shooting range, the police have to be notified by the organisers for the relative processing of an application and due consideration before any permits are issued,” the spokesman added.
The Secretariat or any entities under its portfolio are in no way supporting, sponsoring or participating in the event
Asked whether the police had yet been informed or received any related applications, the spokesman said that an application had been received and was being processed.
The event, advertised as the first and largest shooting and hunting fair in the Mediterranean and a point of reference for lovers of weapons, hunting, fishing and the outdoors, will be held from April 1 to 3.
The promoters of the event, which was launched this week, are the Italian Caccia Village organisers and the Federation for Hunting and Conservation. When asked whether the Parliamentary Secretariat for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights was supporting the event, a Secretariat spokesman said it was not.
“Although we have no objection to such activities as long as they are conducted according to law, the Secretariat or any entities under its portfolio are in no way supporting, sponsoring or participating in the event,” he said.
A website advertising the event says that the passion for hunting has always played an important role in the Mediterranean, driving the Caccia Village staff and FKNK to bring the exhibition to Malta, “which has always been the commercial heart of the Mediterranean Sea”.
They specify that the event will take place when the hunting season has closed.
On display will be firearms used for hunting, sport and as collectors’ items, ammunition and reloading for hunting and sport shooting, as well as fishing and leisure equipment.