The police believe every person involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia has been caught, police commissioner Angelo Gafa’ said on Wednesday. 

“With the evidence we have, we are in a position to say that every person involved, be it mastermind or accomplice, is under arrest or facing charges,” Gafa’ said, although he stopped short of saying that the police now consider the case closed. 

He however said that investigators had no evidence so far that a politician was involved in the journalist's 2017 murder.

The police commissioner was speaking at a press conference held one day after police arrested three men in connection with Caruana Galizia’s murder and the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. 

Prosecutors are to press charges against brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, their associate Jamie Vella, and George Degiorgio at 11pm on Wednesday over their alleged involvement in two murders.  

Gafa’ confirmed police plans to accuse the men of being accomplices in Caruana Galizia’s murder. Two men will face charges concerning the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop in 2015, with one an alleged accomplice and another allegedly the person who ordered the killing. 

Degiorgio is already facing charges of having murdered Caruana Galizia, along with his brother Alfred.

A third man, Vince Muscat, pleaded guilty to the murder on Tuesday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of a plea bargain arrangement. 
Muscat has also received a presidential pardon for his involvement in Chircop’s 2015 murder. 

A fourth man, business tycoon Yorgen Fenech, is facing separate charges of complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder.  

Money, drugs, phones, firearms seized

Gafa' said that after Tuesday’s arrest of three men – two in Baħrija and one in Swieqi – the police seized two cars. One was found to contain €50,000, and 350g of heroin and two sachets of cocaine were found in the other. 

A search of the residences of the suspects also revealed €20,000, 25 mobile phones, two laptops, firearms and documents. 

Europol experts will be roped in to help extract data from the electronic devices seized, he said. 

He said an unsuccessful search had also been made in the sea for the weapon used to kill Chircop.  One needed to keep in mind the sea conditions and the fact that the murder took place in 2015, he said. 

Asked by Times of Malta whether other cases, apart from those of Caruana Galizia and Chircop, were being investigated as a result of the new information, Commissioner Gafa’ said there was constant evaluation of cases and the police will be looking at what other cases could be reviewed.

Gafa’ confirmed that one of the suspects is currently COVID-19 positive. He will be brought to court after police obtained a waiver from the Superintendence of Public Health, the commissioner said. 

The suspect will wear full personal protective equipment and the arraignment will take place in hall 22, one of the law courts’ larger spaces, to allow for social distancing, he said. 

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