The police believe a man they arrested over a murder committed in Gozo in January 2018 was commissioned to carry out the crime.

Sources said developments in recent days had led the police to arrest a Serbian national suspected to have been with the murder victim just hours before he was found dead in a remote field in Għarb on January 22, 2018.

The victim was Walid Salah Abdel Motaleb Mohammed, 42, an Egyptian.

The police have managed to compile a compendium of evidence from a number of CCTV cameras after Mohammed was seen getting into a car in Victoria at around midnight the previous day. His body was found in the outskirts of Għarb a few hours later, the sources said.

Mohammed was married to a Gozitan and had two children. The couple were separated.

Victim had an appointment to meet someone but did not know who this person was

The sources said the police knew Mohammed had an appointment to meet someone but did not know who this person was and neither did they manage to establish a connection.

After viewing three solid hours of CCTV footage, the police now believe he was at the wheel of the car.

The footage was obtained from outlets in Victoria. It showed Mohammed parking his car on the main road.

Sometime later, he got into another car, lit a cigarette and spoke to the driver for some time before they drove off.

The car was then seen boarding a Gozo Channel ferry before the body had even been found.

Investigators believe the Serbian national was commissioned to carry out the murder but they still have not established the motive.

Mohammed’s body was found in a pool of blood in a field close to the chapel dedicated to San Dimitri in rural Għarb. He is believed to have been shot at close range.

The sources said the victim, who worked as a plasterer, also had a pending court case over drug possession and trafficking.

Mohammed had spent time behind bars after being found guilty of threatening to throw acid at his partner’s face if she sent his daughters to religion classes at school.