Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday tabled the annual report of the National Security Committee for 2013 – 15 months after the end of the year it was reporting on.

The brief report outlined the committee’s operations in a variety of sectors, all related to national security.

The External Relations and Terrorism Section had had to be re-created because nothing had been left of it. Current members of the section were doing a lot of important work related to terrorism and fundamentalism, among others.

They were also participating in several international fora in the field. These included the Terrorism Working Group, the Middle European Conference and the Counter-Terrorism Group. Great importance was attached to constant personal contact with liaison officers in many countries.

Other operations of the service involved illegal immigration and extremism, specifically with constant attention being paid to any signs of extremism in Malta, the prevention of illegal activities by any criminal rings and any ties between the two.

Money laundering and fraud also came in for attention, particularly in connection with foreign residents in Malta but also overseas, through contacts with foreign counterpart security organisations.

The service had continued to help both the police and customs in the fight against drugs.