News 01/09/2002

Confidential report had confirmed impact of criminal networks

An internal report presented to the Home Affairs Ministry at the start of 1994 on police reform had highlighted the dangers of the flourishing drug trade and cautioned that some of the criminal networks had already had ‘some impact on the police corps, the law courts and the correctional facility’.

The report, seen by MaltaToday, criticised the Police for not being proactive. ‘No strategy to combat crime was developed and implemented.' the report reads. It finds resources ‘under-utilised’ ‘misapplied’ and allowing for a ‘weak output’.

The internal report dwelt on the need to reform the police force in such a way as to make it an effective tool in the fight against crime. At the time, drug crimes were handled by the drug unit within the all-encompassing Vice Squad. The report was also critical of Police Commissioner George Grech, who was appointed in 1992, for failure to implement changes in the ‘top management structure of the Corps’. Mr George Grech resigned from the police corps after a sex scandal revealed by MaltaToday last year.

It points out that the changes requested at ministerial level as early as 1992 were slow to materialise. The changes were intended to give a new impetus to the Police Force after its emergence from the credibility crunch of the turbulent 1980s.

A particularly telling paragraph in the report speaks about crime networks, which were national security threat: criminals were working within highly developed networks that utilised technology which was ‘not available to our [the] police force.’

At a time when mobile telephony in Malta was still in its infancy, the report remarked that both illegal gambling networks and drug traffickers were using ‘cellular phones’ whilst other sophisticated crime gangs also had the use of radio scanning equipment to monitor police radio traffic.

The report cautioned in no uncertain terms: ‘If such criminal activity is left to develop unchecked we run the risk that it can effect the institutional framework of the country and the democratic process could be seriously impaired. Some of these criminal networks have already had some impact on the police corps, the law courts and the correctional facility.’

Drug trafficking in Malta started well before the nineties with well-known faces in the entertainment business reaping a living off the illegal trade. Earlier this year MaltaToday revealed how after 1985 a Sliema businessman with good connections with the Sicilian Mafia had masterminded a plan to import drugs utilising innocent-looking fishing vessels from Mazara del Vallo.

But the economic boom experienced in the late eighties and early nineties, which opened the Maltese market to increased international trade meant that drug trafficking into the Islands flourished as well.

The internal report presented to the Home Affairs Ministry warned that increased economic wellbeing was attracting Russian individuals connected to organised criminal activity. It said: ‘We already have over 45 residents with another 50 applicants being processed. These could create serious threats to our country especially if they start using Malta in support of their organisations' global strategy.’

In what could be described as an anticipation of what the country is experiencing today, the report stated: ‘The Police Corps together with the Law Courts and the Corradino Correctional Facility form the three basic nodes on which the community’s criminal justice system rests. If these nodes are left to deteriorate there is a risk that the democratic wellbeing of the community is threatened risking institutional collapse due to the corrosion of the community’s core values.’

The year 1994 proved to be a watershed year for drug-related crimes with a number of overdose deaths, a drug-related double murder in Mosta and a substantial weapons and ammunition find in Msida.

It was also the year of a Presidential pardon granted to convicted Brazilian drug trafficker Francisco Assis Queiroz in September, which dealt an additional blow to police efforts to put traffickers behind bars.

Public opinion showed an increasing concern about the state of affairs and the perception was that the police were at a loss.

The delicate situation had even prompted the then Home Affairs Minister, Louis Galea, to write to Police Commissioner George Grech in August 1994. In the letter, seen by MaltaToday, Dr Galea made reference to various media reports about the drug scene, which were published during the month of August, and expressed his concern on the matter.

The Minister requested an evaluation of the media reports from the Police Commissioner George Grech and also asked him to draft a position paper on the ‘current and evolving situation on drugs.’ Dr Galea requested Mr Grech to identify the problems encountered and to propose ‘some new solutions we [the police force] should adopt to combat drugs in a more efficient and effective way.’

Ironically, 1994 was also the year when a number of measures were being taken to combat drug trafficking in a professional way. The Minister Louis Galea was Minister for Home Affairs and Social Development and had previously founded Sedqa, the agency addressing alcohol and drug abuse. The National Drug Intelligence Unit was created in 1994 and amendments were made to the Criminal Code giving police wider investigative powers. Contact was made with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency to prepare an anti-drug strategy and train police officers in the field. Subsequently around 60 police officers and customs officials were trained by DEA. The Commission against Drug and Alcohol abuse was also founded to help develop and direct the fight against drugs from both an enforcement aspect as well as a rehabilitation aspect.

They were long term measures. Meanwhile, the drug barons had enjoyed a head start establishing a good foothold at every social level the result of which we are probably reaping today.