Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1332685
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JANUARY 2021 NEWS Futouristic is ITS' very own journal on hospitality, travel, tourism and culture, promoting discussion, research and reflection in these fields. The magazine presents the latest trends and practises in a rapidly- changing sector, dealing with articles regarding the rich Maltese heritage, rapidly growing technologies, management issues, local culture as well as emerging trends in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. that is one of the pillars of the Maltese economy. its.edu.mt He ended up receiving a head injury. Daniel Muka was later re- leased on bail and went on to be arrested and charged with the double murder of Chris- tian Pandolfino and Ivor Ma- ciejowski, which took place last year. In a recently finalised report, a court-ap- pointed firearms expert told the court hearing the compilation of evidence against the men over the jewellery heist that the firearms he was asked to examine: a Ricol 12 gauge pump action shotgun and a modified KIMAR Model 85 Auto were in "bad condition" and "very bad condition" respectively, but capable of functioning. Shotguns with a barrel length of less than 450mm are prohibited under the Arms Act, noted the expert, therefore the impor- tation into Malta of the shotgun in ques- tion was not legal. 13 shotgun cartridges were also recovered with the weapon in question. The pistol had been manufactured in It- aly and approved as a blank firing device only, but its barrel had been changed to allow it to fire 9mm ammu- nition. Before 2017, blank firing weapons were legally sold with- out licences in several countries. This led to a highly profitable black market in such pistols, once modified to fire live ammunition. Five 9mm pistol rounds recovered by the police were also ex- amined by the expert and found to be functional. At the time of his arrest in August 2020, Daniel Muka had allegedly pulled out a handgun, pointed it at police officers and attempted to fire several times – although fortunately the weapon failed to fire. The case continues. Inspectors James Grech and Mark Mercieca are prosecuting. Lawyer Noel Bianco is defence counsel. Danniel Muka, on his arrest for the Diamonds International heist. After being released on bail pending trial, Muka was involved in the home invasion that resulted in the double murder of Christian Pandolfino and Igor Macieowski ment of a larger police presence in public, aided by the closure of the courts, released more officers for patrols. "We are implementing the police plan to reduce criminality, having more police in the streets and not behind desks. Our primary aim is the prevention of crime through increased patrols, be they foot or bike patrols." Thefts were down by 30%, but other sectors of crime had reg- istered increases. Asked about the marked in- crease in passport-related con- victions and the resulting over- crowding in prison, Camilleri confirmed that the report showed a record number of passport convictions. "Police can't not investigate to save prison space," he said, adding that the mandatory custodial sentences should act as a de- terrent. The creators of the false passports are the subject of an ongoing police investiga- tion, he said. "At the end of the day, passport offenders are victims of a system, who committed a crime," he said. The numbers also showed that border control was working, Camilleri said. Studies are being carried out on increasing the capaci- ty for the Corradino Correc- tional Facility, he said, meas- uring the potential impact on nearby residents. Commissioner of Police Angelo Gafà hailed the com- munity policing scheme as a success. The project began in 2019 in Mellieha, and was in- tended to increase police pres- ence and community relations. To date, 13 communities have a community policing presence and this will continue to grow. On the other hand, computer crime is also up 44% and this is a result of people spending more time at home, he said. A 70% increase in manpow- er was allocated to the Finan- cial Crime Unit, together with more investment in the Cyber- crime Unit. Gafà said comput- er misuse is a growing problem and the police were investigat- ing, prosecuting and leading an education campaign for the public to tackle it. Gafà also said a "targeted policing" approach had been adopted, especially with re- gards to homicides, with exter- nal analysts assisting in solv- ing six murders carried out in 2021. Criminologist Prof. Saviour Formosa said that although criminality had fluctuated over the years, it had steadily increased up until 2016. "The COVID pandemic has helped us identify the crimes commit- ted by locals and not tourists," Prof. Formosa said, adding that while theft, criminal damage and sexual offences and bodily harm had reduced when com- pared to last year, computer crime, drug-related offences, domestic violence and crimes of threats and public violence were all significantly higher. Globally, however, crime had decreased. 2020 had 25.4 crimes per 1,000 persons – nearly half 2015's 42. Home affairs minister Byron Camilleri said the lower crime rate was due to the COVID pandemic but also because of a greater deployment of police officers on patrol, released in part by the closure of the law courts