The police handled just over 5,000 missing-person reports in the last seven years and almost 800 of them remain officially untraced, with another 43 having been found dead.

Half of the reports involved minors under the age of 18 while 186 were of elderly people, according to figures obtained from the police.

Of the 5,007 missing person reports received by the police since 2016, 1,735 were foreigners.

The majority of the people who were reported missing to the police either returned home or were located.

However, 794 are still missing ‘on paper’, many just wanting to disappear and a lot of them probably having left the island without trace.

Police Superintendent Johann Fenech, from the vice squad, explained that the main reason why people “go missing” is because they need a “break from their life”, often due to issues with relatives or personal problems. This is especially the case with younger people.

“We treat these cases as urgent because minors are considered vulnerable. It often turns out that they would have clashed with a family member and want to make a point,” he said, adding that some youngsters are often reported missing several times.

This was the case with 17-year-old Doaa Kasem whose whereabouts remain unknown ever since she was reported missing on June 16 this year. Kasem, who sources said lived in residential care, was last seen in Santa Venera.

A race against time

Fenech explains that when a person is reported missing it’s a race against time and action must be taken immediately. Usually, the person is reported missing in a nearby police station and district police officers start handling the case.

The vice squad is brought in when minors or vulnerable people are involved.

The police start by carrying out background checks from their database to see if the missing person has ever filed a report before or if a report was ever filed against them.

Officers then speak to relatives and close friends to identify areas commonly frequented, which are then searched.

If the person is not found, the police then move on to technical searches: with the support of mobile phone service providers, they establish the location where the person last made a call or received or sent a text message. This gives an approximation of the phone’s whereabouts.

They then look for CCTV cameras in the area and bring in the help of drones and sniffer dogs.

If nothing is found, they issue what is known as a C-circular in the media with the person’s photo and a description of where they were last seen and what they were wearing. In a recent development, the same information is now shown on the screens of private ATMs.

Very often, response is immediate

“Very often, the response is immediate. We get a call from the missing person saying they just wanted to spend some time alone. We also get people calling saying they have seen the missing person.

“Sometimes, they are right but sometimes they are mistaken,” Fenech said, adding there was a time during the Madeleine McCann case when people reported seeing her in Malta. 

Superintendent Johann Fenech. Photo: Jonathan Borg

In a case that made international headlines for several years, McCann, a British child, disappeared on the evening of May 3, 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment at a resort in Portugal.

“On one occasion, we checked CCTV footage and saw that there was someone who resembled her,” Fenech said, stressing that anyone who believed they had information about a missing person ought to call the police immediately since “time is of the essence”.  Their anonymity would be protected, he added.

While the majority of missing people are found before the C-circular is issued in the media, this is not the case with all: “Some do not want to be found.”

In these cases, they remain listed as “missing” in police files. It is difficult for the police to know if a missing person left the island, especially in the case of foreigners, the officer said.

The police were recently criticised over the case of Nicholas Camilleri, who was found dead by his son in June in a dilapidated building in Għajn Tuffieħa after a fruitless police and army search that included dogs and a helicopter.

Fenech defended police action in the case: “Malta may be small but can be enormous during a search. In the case of Nicholas Camilleri, the district police worked hard and used drones and dogs. They had found his car in Għajn Tuffieħa and searched the rooms there… but sometimes it’s a matter of timing,” he said, adding that every second counted.

This was especially the case for older people reported missing after they wander off from home or care facility, often due to mental health or medical issues. This is what happened in

the case of dementia patient Carmelo Fino, 83, who walked out of St Vincent de Paul and was reported missing on June 28. He too remains missing as does Salvu Bonnici, a 70-year-old man from Gudja, who has been missing since July 1.

Any information on missing people can be relayed on 2122 4001, 119, or at any police station.