A 37-year-old man from St Paul’s Bay was arrested early this morning following a police car chase during which shots were fired and several parked cars were damaged.

Officers from the police's Rapid Intervention Unit and the Criminal Investigation Department were carrying out road checks at the Birkirkara by-pass at 1am when they noticed that the driver of a Volkswagen Passat had stopped the car as soon as he caught sight of the road blocks. He drove to the side of the road, parked and switched off the lights, the police said in a statement.

The car the man was driving.

Some time later, he reversed his car the whole way and drove towards the Birkirkara church.

The police followed him but the man drove with excessive speed and in a dangerous manner, hitting parked cars and damaging them along the way.

The police managed to surround his vehicle at one point but he reversed onto a police car.

The officers then fired shots at the wheels of his car to stop him from causing more damage or even injuring or killing someone.

They said he continued to drive wrong way until he was eventually stopped and arrested.

The man, who is well known to the police, was breaching bail conditions by being out at that hour and the car he was using had foreign number plates.

They said the man subsequently complained he was in pain as he had been operated upon a few days earlier. They took him to Mater Dei Hospital from where he was released after a check-up.

An inquiry is being held.