Police yesterday found a "considerable amount" of explosive material in what they said was an illegal fireworks factory in Mellieħa. The owner of the factory buildings is expected to be charged in court today.
The man, who is in his 40s and from Mellieħa, is the seventh person in recent days to have been held by the police in connection with the alleged illegal possession of fireworks-related explosives.
Sources said the police were tipped off and the explosive material was found in a series of rooms in an area near Popeye's Village.
Police officers and members of the Armed Forces' Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit found explosive substances as well as petards that were still in the process of being manufactured.
Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was informed about the find and appointed court experts to assist her in the inquiry.
Meanwhile, in Gozo, another man is today expected to be arraigned in connection with the illegal possession of explosive material after the police discovered a considerable amount of petards on a truck in Xagħra on Saturday.
Since the March 12 Naxxar fireworks explosion that killed two people and demolished several houses, the police have been receiving phone calls reporting explosive material that was being stored illegally.
Although most searches resulted in the negative, in other cases the police have had positive results. Four men have already been charged in court over the illegal possession of explosives and another is to be charged in the coming weeks over the possession of a small amount of explosives in a Marsascala residence.
The magisterial inquiry into the explosion in Naxxar's Triq Ħal Dgħejf is still going on as are the police investigations into the case.
The devastating blast took the life of 35-year-old Sina Sammut, a mother of two, who had just dropped off her shopping at her house when the explosion took place. Civil Protection officers found her body in what remained of her kitchen on the day after the explosion.
The search for the remains of 47-year-old Paul Camilleri, who is suspected to have been manufacturing fireworks in his garage where the explosion is believed to have occurred, was called off last week after CPD officers combed the area. (Some of his body parts were found on the day of the explosion).
The explosion has reignited calls to tighten regulations governing the fireworks industry.
The police are urging anyone who has information about illegal fireworks activity to call on telephone number 119.