Swieqi local council is considering setting up a neighbourhood watch after more than 30 cars had tyres slashed in recent weeks, Mayor Noel Muscat told Times of Malta.

A resident – Matthew Micallef – posted an appeal on Facebook for “armed vigilantes” to patrol the streets and “hunt” the unidentified vandals. The mayor said such frustration was “understandable” but he could not condone any violence.

Eric Tabone, who posted a photo of his vandalised car online, wrote in a comment: “This can’t go on. I woke up and found my car tyres slashed again.

“If the police won’t do anything then we need to protect ourselves. We should take serious action and set up a neighbourhood watch.”

This can’t go on. We should take serious action

Five cars had their tyres slashed yesterday in the third consecutive attack. The ‘Swieqi Tyre Slashers’, as they have come to be known, have so far evaded the police but Mr Muscat said he hoped investigations would be more successful thanks to CCTV footage.

Such footage was yesterday posted on a Facebook group for Swieqi locals and two clips were forwarded to the police.

In one of the short, grainy clips, a lone man is seen walking up to a car and surreptitiously stabbing its two left-hand tyres.

Dressed in a hooded sweater, the man kneels down as though he is tying his shoelace. He then stabs the tyres of a hatchback parked along Triq il-Ħemel, using what appears to be a penknife.

In another video, two hooded men simultaneously stab tyres in the early hours. Residents said vandals had not stopped at slashing tyres. Many claim to have had wing mirrors broken and paint scratched in recent weeks.

Mr Muscat said he would meet with the authorities to lobby for more police surveillance. The locality’s police station is expected to be operational by the end of the month.

The civic centre earmarked to house the station was inaugurated for the second time in two years in February but has remained closed due to lack of police resources.