Mellieha Local Council has committed itself to planting 208 trees at the Foresta 2000 site to replace 104 young pine trees which were vandalised overnight.

The vandalism was discovered this morning by Ray Vella, the BirdLife/Din l-Art Helwa ranger in charge of the site near Mellieha.

Mr Vella said the trees had been sawn off. He said the trees were planted in October 2007 to replace other trees which had been also cut down by vandals.

BirdLife and Din L-Art Helwa in a statement today: “The failure of the police to apprehend the perpetrators of these crimes seems to be encouraging further violence and vandalism. The country badly needs to send out a message that these kinds of crimes will not be tolerated.”

The Resources Ministry and the Labour Party condemned the vandalism.

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