Updated 1.40pm - Added video

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar left a press conference at police headquarters on Monday morning through a side door, without uttering a single word about one of the biggest police operations in Maltese history.

The press conference saw the commissioner and Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia congratulate reserve police constables engaged with the force.

Forty-one new reserve police constables, eight of them women, graduated during the ceremony. 

Although the event was scheduled before security forces raided multiple locations and arrested 10 suspects in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia on Monday morning, journalists expecting the police commissioner to speak up about the operation were left empty-handed.

While the police commissioner made a quick exit, minister Michael Farrugia spoke with reporters. Video: Elisa Lemarchand

Minister Farrugia told reporters that since he had been threatened with legal action by the Caruana Galizia family if he divulged any further information about the case, he would not comment further.

A press conference would be held if and when police pressed charges against the 10 suspects, he said. 

Mr Cutajar stuck resolutely to the script, telling his audience that the police corps had emerged "with full honours" after overseeing the EU Council presidency and general election, before sneaking out through a side door and avoiding journalists' questions. 

The arrest of 10 suspects was announced by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a press conference held at the Auberge de Castille this morning.

Last week, Greens MEP Sven Giegold told the Maltese press that he left a meeting with commissioner Cutajar and other top police officials sensing an element of both "unwillingness" and "incompentence." Mr Giegold was the deputy head of a delegation sent on a fact-finding mission to look into rule of law concerns about Malta. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.