Mobile phones recovered from the sea close to a cabin cruiser owned by one of the three men charged with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, could be key to solve five other car bomb attacks which happened since the beginning of last year.
Sources close to the investigation told the Times of Malta that apart from the device used to send the fatal SMS that triggered the bomb in Bidnija and which cost the journalist’s life, crucial evidence had been extracted from seven other mobile phones found in the area.
Their discovery immediately fuelled suspicions that these phones could have been linked to a spate of other similar assassinations yet unsolved.
“It was thanks to the sophisticated FBI equipment and their expertise, that Maltese investigators managed to trace the whereabouts of the suspects on the days of these attacks as well as the numbers dialled,” sources said.
“The breakthrough was also significant as it enabled Maltese authorities to gain expertise on how to handle such cases, on which they had made little inroads until the FBI was brought in by the Maltese authorities,” they added.
Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, together with Vince Muscat, were charged on Tuesday night, following raids in Żebbuġ, Buġibba and, Marsa close to the former potato grading station.
During the operations, seven other suspects were arrested and later released on police bail.
Furthermore, SIM cards, mobile phones and other pieces of evidence were seized by the investigators, particularly in Marsa where the cabin cruiser belonging to one of the suspects was berthed.
Apart from the October 16 case, when Ms Caruana Galizia was killed, a further five car bomb attacks have taken place since the start of last year.
On January 16, 2016, Martin Cachia, 56, was killed by an explosive device which went off inside the Alfa Romeo car he was driving along the Marsascala bypass.
The next happened on September 26 on Aldo Moro Road in Marsa, in which haulage company director Josef Cassar, 35, lost both legs. The blast caused slight injuries to a 38-year-old man who was driving alongside the victim’s van.
Barely a month later, on October 31, businessman John Camilleri, 67, was killed while driving a Mitsubishi Pajero in Triq Paderborn, Buġibba. The blast was so strong that part of the vehicle ended up on the roof of a nearby apartment block.
On January 29, this year, Victor Calleja, 61, from Ħamrun, lost his life while driving an Opel Astra near the Maltapost offices in Qormi.
The fifth case, which like the others has not been solved, happened on February 20, in broad daylight in the busy arterial junction next to the Workers Monument in Msida. The driver, Romeo Bone, 40, from Floriana was grievously injured.