The police have only received one report of child abduction attempts in 2017, despite claims made by some Marsa residents that African migrants were behind a recent spate of such attempts.

Furthermore, it was not specified if this child abduction claim case was related at all with the claims made by residents.

A police spokesman said the investigation into the 2017 reports claim was still pending.

Concerns that children living close to the Marsa open centre could be at risk were raised last month following a report on the Sunday paper il-Mument. The story was based on a series of anonymous accounts by some mothers who complained they had witnessed various “abduction attempts” by African migrants.

Investigations are still ongoing

In the il-Mument report, one Marsa resident recounted that migrants were offering sweets to lure the children away. She claimed that a migrant had tried to abduct her child forcefully but luckily she managed to resist him by hitting him with a bottle.

According to the alleged victim, a police report had been filed.

The debate was stoked further, a few days following the publication of this story, by a Facebook post uploaded by a mother residing in Birżebbuġa – home to a sizeable migrant community most of whom have links with the nearby Ħal Far open centre.

The mother warned her followers to be vigilant, claiming that two “foreigners” had attempted to kidnap her son from his pushchair while in a shop in the locality.

However, her claim was subsequently challenged on the strength of CCTV footage handed over by the shop owner, who insisted no such incident had ever occurred.

Times of Malta delved deeper into these claims and requested official data on the number of police reports on attempted or actual child abductions involving migrants, which were filed this year.

It transpired that only one case had been reported, on which investigations are still ongoing. Moreover, it was not clear if this case involved migrants.

Last September, it was revealed that the Marsa open centre would be soon closed and all of its residents relocated to Ħal Far. The decision, however, was overturned, in the wake of complaints by Birżebbuġa residents who feared a further influx of migrants.

The government recently announced that the army would be patrolling "problematic" areas like Marsa and Birżebbuġa if the need arose.