Updated 6.20pm with Foreign Affairs Ministry reaction

A police officer and son of a former police commissioner was suspended after testing positive for cocaine over the weekend.

Multiple sources close to the police said the officer was arrested over alleged associations with drug dealers and suspicion that he was leaking sensitive police information to third parties. This is the second case of its kind to emerge over the past month.

Times of Malta can confirm the policeman is Kurt Rizzo, the son of former police commissioner John Rizzo.

Attempts were made to contact both Rizzo and his father for comment on Wednesday, but no response was received by the time of writing.

The young officer was suspended from all his duties and released on police bail earlier this week pending further investigations.

Times of Malta can confirm that the officer was part of the police Special Intervention Unit (SIU).

The specialised unit handles delicate, high-risk police operations such as dangerous arrests related to drugs, hostage situations and other serious crime.

The unit also offers personal security to dignitaries, VIPs and to other people who need personal police protection. Rizzo has been on the security detail for high profile people including Foreign Minister Ian Borg and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in the last months.

'Rizzo assigned only once to Borg'

In a reaction to the story on Wednesday afternoon, the Foreign Affairs Ministry clarified that Rizzo was only assigned as a security officer for Ian Borg once during a trip to Ukraine.

Moreover, neither Borg nor any ministry official ever requested that any specific officer be assigned to his security detail, it said.

"It is the police force that assigns the officials. The ministry and the permanent secretary never specified which officers they want to be assigned and, in fact, different officers are assigned on different occasions," the statement said.

"Rizzo was assigned once with the deputy prime minister, during a visit to Ukraine."

Questions about the case were sent to the police, who said they "are not in a position to confirm or otherwise such information." 

Police Sergeant Cherise Camilleri, 28, was last month charged with leaking information about multiple police raids to people outside the force. She pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

Data extracted from her phone appeared to indicate she was leaking information about police work to a third party, although she denied the allegation.

Days later, a gym owner was charged in court with bribing her. He also pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

Leaking sensitive information of this sort to criminals essentially puts our colleagues in potentially very serious danger

It remains unclear whether the cases of the two police officers are related.

Sources close to the police said the crime of colluding with criminals is very serious in itself, especially when an officer is involved. What is even worse, they pointed out, is that, if the allegations are true, such officers would be dangerously putting their colleagues at risk.

“We’re talking about very dangerous people here who could use that information to harm or stop the officers investigating them,” one source added.

“Leaking sensitive information of this sort to criminals essentially puts our colleagues in potentially very serious danger.”