Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1278887
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2020 NEWS A man from Attard was yesterday charged with attempting to mur- der a man and steal his money in Ta' Qali this week. 36-year-old Elliot Paul Busuttil appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to charges. Busuttil was accused of stabbing a 57-year-old Bulgarian man who was found in Ta' Qali lying on the ground in a pool of blood on Thursday night. The man's wounds were initially considered to be life-threatening but police inspector Keith Ar- naud told the court on Saturday that the victim's condition was now stable. Investigators had immediately identified Busuttil as the prime suspect and found him hiding in a block of apartments in Attard early on Friday morning. Busuttil did not request bail and was remanded in custody by mag- istrate Marse-Ann Farrugia, who presided over the court. In 2018, Farrugia was accused of carrying a knife in public whilst on bail for drug offences has been jailed. He was charged with carry- ing a knife in public without a per- mit, breaching bail, committing an offence during the operative period of a suspended sentence, breaching the peace by making a noisy disturbance and relapsing. In February 2018, Busuttil had been released on bail after being charged in connection with a po- lice raid on a Bugibba drug den. His lawyer had then entered a plea of guilty on behalf of the ac- cused, asking that he be held at Mount Carmel forensic section and not at Corradino prisons, so that he could be admitted to a drug rehabilitation programme. His admission allowed the court to sentence him to a €116 fine for the knife charge and nine months' imprisonment for the other charges. Attempted murder charge Elliot Paul Farrugia had already a string of charges against him, connected to drugs and using a knife in public MATTHEW VELLA AN official statement from the Department of Information on a press conference announcing an Armed Forces patrol boat that would monitor the lampuki sea- son against Tunisian poachers, was delayed after the AFM kicked up a storm over the news. MaltaToday understands that the top brass in the AFM was jittery about publicising its presence in traditional fishing grounds used by Gozitan fishers, which recently were targeted by Tunisian poachers stealing their catch. A press conference by fisheries minister Anton Refalo on Thurs- day, reported only by MaltaTo- day, was only officially publicised by the DOI on Friday. However, not one single men- tion of the Armed Forces patrol boat is made in the official DOI statement, despite having been clearly mentioned by Refalo. MaltaToday understands that the AFM actively did not want its presence in waters close to Tuni- sia advertised, due to obligations created in the rescue of migrants at sea. Sources also said the AFM, whose patrol boat will carry the pennant of the European Fisher- ies Control Agency, was not keen on boarding Tunisian boats sus- pected of carrying stolen Maltese lampuki catches, even though they are empowered to take re- cords of any illegal catch and sub- mit them to the EFCA for further action. AFM jittery over lampuki mission, DOI hides detail