Vodafone received 3,339 requests for information from the Maltese police last year, according to the group’s global annual report.

The figure represents a drop of more than 400 from the previous year, the Law Enforcement Disclosure Report 2015 shows.

In this report, Vodafone gives an account of formal demands made by law enforcement agencies to the telecommunications company as part of ongoing investigations.

However, in a statement the government insisted the figures given by Vodafone did not mean these were legal interceptions.

“The statistics issued by Vodafone Group are not legal interceptions by the Malta Security Service, which are strictly governed by relevant laws under the Malta Security Service Act, which is in turn scrutinised by the Security Committee,” the government said.

The vast majority of the requests to the telecommunications company were initiated by the police at the request of victims of crimes for issues such as phone thefts, loss of phones, anonymous calls and similar matters.

“Other requests by the police to the telecommunications company would be in relation to criminal investigations and search for missing persons,” the government said.