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Jurors in the trial of George Xuereb found him guilty of involve- ment in the foiled hold-up on the Mid-Med Bank st Andrew's branch in 1996. The decision was announced after 14 hours of deliberation, with Mr Justice Michael Mallia retiring to his chambers following the verdict and emerging just minutes later to pronounce the sentence of 13 years in jail. Xuereb was also ordered to pay the costs of the trial. In total Xuereb was found guilty of five offences: attempted theft – by eight votes to one, attempted mur- der – by seven votes to two, theft of a firearm – by eight votes to one, com- plicity in the theft of a vehicle – by eight votes to one and finally of being in possession of a firearm without li- cence from the commissioner of po- lice – by eight votes to one. The verdict came as something of a surprise following what was widely considered to be a weak case by the prosecution, featuring conflicting testimony by prosecution witnesses and little in the way of forensic evi- dence. The verdict also brings to a close the 18-year long legal saga follow- ing the 1996 robbery attempt. Had it been successful, the heist would have netted the three robbers, Car- mel spiteri, Joseph Polidano and George Xuereb a sum in the region of Lm100,000 (€232,400). www.maltatoday.com.mt wednesday edition wednesday • 15 OctOber 2014 • issue 386 • published every wednesday and sunday €0.90 Editorial - PAGE 9 MiriaM Dalli MALTA is one of the Eu states taking part in the controversial Mos Maio- rum operation to appre- hend irregular migrants without any documenta- tion across the European union. In its first day of opera- tion on sunday, four for- eign nationals were found staying in Malta without a permit, the home affairs ministry said. A spokesperson for the home affairs minister said Maltese police will be sta- tioned at the airport and seaports, while thousands of other police officers across the Eu will be man- ning physical borders. "It is hoped that a number of irregular Third Country Nationals will be found. one of the main aims of this operation is the fight against human traffick- ing," the spokesperson said. A massive police opera- tion dubbed 'Mos Maio- rum' was launched by 25 European countries on Monday to detect, detain and possibly deport tens of thousands of so-called "ir- regular" migrants. MiriaM Dalli oPPosITIoN leader simon Busuttil wants the government to guarantee that it won't be buying more electricity than it needs from Chinese investors shanghai Electric Power, set to be the new owners of the Delimara phase II plant. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has on several occasions said that Malta's gen- eration of power would be derived from three sources: the 215MW powerplant to be constructed by the ElectroGas consor- tium, the Delimara phase II – known as the BWsC – that will be converted to gas, and the interconnector. During a brief interview with MaltaTo- day, Mizzi on sunday said that around half of the island's electricity supply will be generated by the ElectroGas siemens plant, while the rest will be derived from the 'BWsC' plant and the interconnec- tor. The Marsa power station will be de- commissioned in the coming months. Calling a news conference outside the parliament building yesterday, Busut- til said the government should not bind itself to buying energy from the BWsC plant when it does not require to do so. "The government has already bound itself to buy all electricity generated by ElectroGas; now the Chinese investors will be buying the Delimara phase II and the interconnector will soon be in place. This government will be binding the country to purchase more electricity than it needs," Busuttil said. CONTiNUES PaGE 2 Malta participates in Mos Maiorum PN seeks assurances over energy purchase Newspaper post CONTiNUES PaGE 3 CONTiNUES PaGE 5 George Xuereb sentenced to 13 years behind bars for attempted theft, firearm theft, complicity in vehicle theft, possession of firearm without licence and attempted murder 13 years for Xuereb over attempted murder in 1996 botched hold-up Four irregular migrants apprehended Simon Busuttil