The subterranean tunnel was yesterday still visible through the garage vents. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The former police commissioner believes investigators are close to identifying those who dug an underground tunnel in an unsuccessful bid to penetrate a bank vault in St Andrew’s a year ago.

“There is evidence which could lead to someone being identified. If I were still involved I would say that this would happen soon,” Peter Paul Zammit said, adding that since he was no longer in office he could not be certain about what would happen.

Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit would not comment on the case.

The 15-metre-long tunnel was discovered by the police in October last year after an anonymous tip-off.

The pathway, a little more than a metre high, had been dug from a subterranean garage complex and had come just a few metres short of the HSBC bank branch vault across Triq il-Qatta.

Investigations of this sort are carried out in the most professional way possible

Steel beams were used to support the tunnel, which cut across the middle of a residential road.

Times of Malta yesterday returned to the spot and found that the tunnel had not yet been sealed and was still visible from the garage vents that had been prised open. In fact, the only thing stopping anyone from going into the tunnel was a pair of police padlocks fastened to the garage aluminium door.

Mr Zammit, who headed the police force at the time of the discovery, said the tunnel could not yet be filled in because it was a goldmine of forensic evidence. “A magisterial inquiry is ongoing and until it is concluded the tunnel is essential evidence,” he said, adding that experts had advised that the tunnel could only be refilled by excavating the road and rebuilding the hollowed foundations.

Construction and excavation experts had told Times of Malta at the time that the planned bank heist probably took about two months of continuous digging and would have produced about 900 sacks each containing 50-kilos of rubble.

Mr Zammit said yesterday the tunnel had stopped just three metres short of reaching the HSBC basement but the bank had since taken “all the necessary precautions” to protect the vault.

Asked whether the bank feared the tunnel in its present state posed a risk, an HSBC spokesman said: “The bank carries out regular health and safety [checks] and security reviews of all its properties.”

Mr Zammit denied speculation by In-Nazzjon that the police inquiry had purposely come up blank.

“First of all police investigations into something like this never end. And, this is a completely baseless accusation.

“The information we had been given came in after works on the tunnel had been abandoned for some time.

“At that point, there was no one to catch red-handed. Investigations of this sort are carried out in the most professional way possible,” he said.