Law & Order
BirdLife members' vehicles targeted by arsonists
By MaltaMedia News
Feb 17, 2008 - 10:20:18 AM

Three vehicles caught fire in Buskett early on Sunday morning. Later on it was revealed that the cars belonged to members of Birdlife Malta who were birding and ringing in the area.

The Police were informed of the incident at around 06:20CET.

Members from the Civil Protection Department were called on site to control the fire. No one was injured in the incident. Also, the surrounding environment was not damaged.

Duty Magistrate Dr C Scerri Herrera was informed of the case and experts were appointed to insist in the inquiry.

Further Police investigations on the case are under way.

In a statement BirdLife Malta said that two of the cars belong to BirdLife Malta council members while the third car, exhibiting a diplomatic plate, belongs to an American citizen who started volunteering with the organisation a few months ago. The three volunteers were carrying out scientific ringing studies in Buskett. They arrived on site at around 05:45CET and headed off to a nearby field to start their work. Just a few minutes after, they heard a bang. Within fifteen minutes fire engines and Police had arrived on the scene. BirdLife Malta’s Executive Director Tolga Temuge also arrived at the scene shortly after.

The Police informed BirdLife that the incident was most probably a criminal act. Mr Temuge said: “This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Our reserves as well as the EU Life project site were vandalised, 3,000 trees and shrubs were uprooted and sawed down at FORESTA 2000 and to this day not one single person has been brought to justice. This inaction is giving a dangerous message that these criminals can get away with what they are doing.”

BirdLife said that ten days ago the organisation had sent a letter to the Commissioner of Police and in copy to the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment George Pullicino informing them about messages with an increasingly threatening tone posted on the FKNK website forum. BirdLife had requested action from the part of the relevant authorities but, up till today, the organisation had received no communication from the Police.

“We demand urgent action from the government to bring these criminals to justice. What are they waiting for, someone to get seriously hurt?” Temuge concluded.