Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1250967
Suspected mercernaries were released from arrest after two days MATTHEW VELLA & MATTHEW AGIUS A group of 20 men evacuated from Benghazi, Libya and suspected of having been contracted to lend sup- port to General Khalifa Haftar's forc- es, were held under arrest in Malta for two days before being released without charge. Multiple law enforcement sources speaking to this newspaper say the police are still investigating the inci- dent, almost a year on since the arrival of the men on two RHIBs (rigid-hull inflatable boats) at the Valletta sea- port in June 2019. The men are suspected of having aviation and military backgrounds, yet police sources insisted they car- ried out a full suite of checks on the suspected mercenaries. "The police don't take things at face value – we are still investigating their claims of being oil and gas workers," a source said of the men's claims that they were oil and gas personnel working for an Emirati firm, Opus Capital Asset. The RHIBs were leased out to the company by a Maltese firm, Sover- eign Charters, whose owner James Fenech is an ammunitions merchant. In April 2020, Fenech was charged with leasing out the RHIBs in breach of EU sanctions on Libya for not hav- ing an appropriate export licence. MaltaToday has established that af- ter the men were arrested, Fenech's company was fined €15,000 for the entry into Malta without visas. The group was mostly composed of South African men, as well as one American and one Australian. STAY IN, STAY SAFE, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 Labour support continues to increase, PN's remains static PGS 14-15 MALTATODAY SURVEY KURT SANSONE SUPPORT for the La- bour Party has contin- ued to increase during a time of econom- ic and social d i s r u p t i o n caused by COVID-19, a MaltaTo- day survey shows. The party's strength stands at 51.9%, an almost three-point increase over the previous month. The result means that support for the PL has reached its high- est level since August 2018, a time when the Egrant inquiry find- ings were published and the party scored 52%. S u p - port for the Na- t i o n a l i s t Party has dropped by one point to 22.1%, while Alternat- tiva Demokratika and the Democratic Par- ty enjoy a combined 1.1%. TIME FOR HOMEWORK Back working from home, major union leaders tell employers PAGE 11 WE'RE BAAAAH-CK! A sudden resurgence in sheep farming could help young farmers PAGE 8 Prof. Sandro Caruana Education expert says COVID-19 is great challenge for our schools INTERVIEW •MT2 OUTDOOR MINISTRY FOR TOURISM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION If you are an owner of an establishment such as a restaurant or hotel and would like to apply for certification you can call MTA on 21692447. maltatoday SUNDAY • 24 MAY 2020 • ISSUE 1072 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 mt survey Don't knock the social Problem usage should not obfuscate benefits of social media PG 10 PAGE 4 One of the RHIBs leased by Sovereign Charters, moored in Malta. The company insists its lawyers carried out due diligence on Opus Capital when it leased out two boats for what turned out to be a 24-hour evacaution of suspected mercenaries from Benghazi