A 43-year-old Mqabba man was arrested in connection with this weekend's Gozo ferry bomb threats, the police said Sunday.

He is being interrogated over false reports and is expected to be charged in court in the coming days.

Sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta the man is believed to have been involved in a telephone call that was made to Gozo Channel on Saturday afternoon, during which employees were warned there might be an explosive device on one of the ferries or in the terminals.

Gozo Channel was forced to suspend operations on Saturday evening after receiving the bomb threat. This came just 24 hours after a previous threat on Friday evening had already halted services, stranding hundreds of vehicles and passengers in Mġarr and Ċirkewwa.

But sources close to the investigation confirmed the two incidents were unrelated.

“On Friday, two ferry passengers reported to have overheard two men mentioning bombs and boats in an unfamiliar language. It seems they genuinely feared the men were planning some kind of attack and reported it to the ferry officials, who took no chances and immediately alerted the authorities,” one source said.

“Saturday’s case was unrelated. It was an anonymous telephone call that was later intercepted by police.”

The story behind Saturday’s threat is yet unclear.

Sources said although there is no connection between the two incidents, they do not exclude that the perpetrator of the second one might have been inspired by the seemingly effective first one.

Anyone caught making a fake bomb threat could face thousands of euros in fines if found guilty.

Ferries and terminals inspected twice

After both threats, the Armed Forces of Malta were called in both harbours to inspect the company’s four vessels and two terminals.

Besides the ship decks, divers also inspected the bottom of the ships.

The threat disrupted a busy weekend in Gozo, forcing Astra Theatre to delay its popular annual opera to accommodate stranded patrons.