A father who regularly takes his children to the Pembroke swings has expressed his concern about the number of syringes he finds in the vicinity. In recent months, Maurice Hancock has found dozens of syringes, the majority of which were just outside the playground and in the nearby carpark.

“I’ve seen children pick up the needles and try to put them in their pocket. And the other day a needle got stuck in my shoe while walking back to the car from the playground,” he said, calling on the authorities to take action.

Hancock – a father of three children aged seven, five and three – regularly takes the children to the Pembroke playground, near the Radisson Blu hotel. There they meet up with other children and spend a few hours playing.

About two months ago one of the children was playing in the area and found a penknife in the bushes just outside the playground. The parents there did not think much of it until, over the next couple of weeks, the children started pointing out other items hidden in the bushes including a brass knuckle as well as heroin needles.

The needles were often in the area just outside the playground and in the adjacent carpark.

I’ve seen children pick up needles and try to put them in their pocket

Maurice and another father decided to search the area and found a stash of drug-related items including needles and foil hidden in a pipe in the wall. He said that, when he called police, he was directed to the health authorities who sent him to the local cleaning services who came and collected a bag of about 20 syringes he had collected.

Asked about this, a spokesman for the police said: “Last month, while patrolling the area, community policing officers noted a number of syringes in the mentioned playground and immediate action was taken to remove them… The area is frequently patrolled and since last month nothing irregular was noted.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Malta Tourism Authority, responsible for the maintenance of the playground, said that while the bushes on the side of the garden were not part of the garden and therefore did not fall under the remit of the authority, they had not been informed of any syringes or other related items relating to the taking of drugs in the public car park, or even within the garden itself.

He said that in the past, syringes have been found, and these were mainly found in the shaft next to the public convenience and in the public car park – not in the playground. These findings were extremely rare.

The MTA said it carries out ongoing maintenance while a general cleaner is also employed by the authority to ensure the garden is kept in good condition. The playground is cleaned daily.

Pembroke mayor Dean Hili said that occasionally he was informed about syringes found in the area but “nothing that would indicate a growing, constant problem”.