Investigators hoping FBI expertise on phone data can pin down killers

Hundreds of telephone calls, and CCTV footage from dozens of cameras in the vicinity of the Mosta and Bidnija have been examined by police investigators poring over clues in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

But it appears that the tracking of emails and messaging by the FBI, which is assisting the Maltese police, has bolstered their resolve in the ongoing investigations on the car bomb assassination of 16 October.

Now running into the third week of investigations, the Maltese investigators sounded a more optimistic note on the pace of investigations. A senior police source refused to divulge details, simply saying that police had covered more ground than they previously expected  to. “It’s a major operation with all hands on deck. I can assure you everyone has the same objective – to identify the killers.”

“If there is a car bomb murder that we can solve, it has to be this one. We have never had so many resources thrown at one incident.”

In parliament Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has already said the FBI had the ability of using their technological expertise to pin down the presence of people in the locality based on mobile phone data. A €1 million reward has also been offered by the State for any information that leads to the identification of the killers.

Police have also built a database correlating hundreds of references of people targeted in Caruana Galizia’s blog. “We are ruling out nothing. But we are dedicating special focus to articles which targeted people who were accused of illegal activities or of being criminals.”

Caruana Galizia died three weeks ago in a car bomb some 300 metres from her rural Bidnija home. Her funeral was held on Friday at the Mosta parish church where mass was concelebrated by the Archbishop Charles Scicluna.

Neither Prime Minister Joseph Muscat nor PN leader Adrian Delia attended the funeral after the family declared that they were not welcome. President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca was also conveyed the message that she was not welcome at the funeral. A funeral wreath sent by the Speaker of the House, Anglu Farrugia, was torn up by family members inside the church according to attendees who posted the observation on Facebook. European Parliament President Antonio Taljani and former prime ministers Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi were in attendance. 

The investigation is being led by Magistrate Anthony Vella. In the first week, the police collected CCTV footage of numerous cameras in the locality and beyond, and other information related to the possible whereabouts of certain individuals.

The police also managed to gather Caruana Galizia’s mobile phone from the car in spite of the intense flames, but her laptop was not in the car at the time but at her home in Bidnija.  

It is not clear if the laptop has been passed on to the magistrate by the family. The family have said that they have no faith in the police but have been collaborating with the magistrate.