Passports stolen along with thousands of euro worth of valuables when a safe was taken out of a Mosta home in broad daylight last July, have been found in a chapel at l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha.

The rusting, empty safe was found a short distance away at the bottom of a cliff.

Lillian Riolo spoke of her shock when an acquaintance contacted her on Facebook to tell her that he had seen her passport and those of her children in the chapel.

The family went to the site and also managed to find some jewellery items which Ms Riolo had worn for her wedding. They were close to the 1.5-metre-long safe which someone had opened with a chaser.

But there was no trace of the other jewellery and two revolvers and two pistols – which Ms Riolo’s husband used for target shooting practice and also kept in the safe.

More on Ms Riolo's account in Times of Malta and the e-paper on timsofmalta.com