‘Maksar’ brothers helping police in connection with lawyer’s 2015 murder

The Maksar brothers and their associate arrested today are helping the investigation into the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop, the police said on Tuesday night.

Brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, and Jamie Vella, were arrested at around 1pm on Tuesday after Vince Muscat admitted his involvement in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder. Muscat was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Muscat is understood to have collaborated with the police on the Caruana Galizia murder case and was granted a presidential pardon to tell all about the Chircop murder.

The Agius brothers had been indicated as the suppliers of the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia.

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The police said it received important information that corroborated evidence it already had in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder in 2017 and the Chircop assassination in 2015.

Police from various specialised squads swooped in to arrest three people in two separate operations in Baħrija and Swieqi. The police did not divulge any names but information obtained earlier by MaltaToday said that the arrested men were the Agius brothers and Vella.

The trio had been arrested in December 2017 in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder but later released.

In Baħrija, police arrested two men, while a third was arrested in Swieqi. Sources said that one of the three suspects had to be taken to the police depot by ambulance.

“The three people are helping the investigation into the murder of Carmel Chircop, while two of these three are also helping the investigation linked to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia,” the police said in a statement.

Read this explainer | The Carmel Chircop murder and the Maksar brothers arrest