Daphne Caruana Galizia murder: Malta police arrest ten suspects in connection with car bombing

Arrests follow criticism from Brussels of authorities' investigation

Maltese police have arrested 10 suspects in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has announced, almost two months after her car was blown up in an apparently targeted assassination.

All of those arrested are Maltese nationals and most have a criminal record, the Prime Minister said at a press conference on Monday morning. The police have 48 hours to question the suspects, arraign them or release them.

Eight of the arrests arrests were initially announced by the Prime Minister at the press conference, with a further two coming shortly afterwards.

“As I stated as soon as I learnt about this barbaric act, we will leave no stone unturned to get this case solved. I am committed to doing so more than ever,” the Prime Minister said.

Home minister Michael Farrugia confirmed the nationalities of the latter two arrests but said he would not go into any more detail because, he said, “I have been already threatened by legal action by the Caruana Galizia family.”

53-year-old Caruana Galizia was murdered on 16 October. Her popular blog had relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged high-level corruption targeting politicians from across party lines, including around the Panama Papers tax scandal.

Her killing has sparked protests on the island, with thousands marching against what some called the “Mafia state”.

The sons of murdered journalist carry their mother’s coffin out of the church in Mosta (Getty)

Her family made it known that they did not want the country’s Prime Minister or President – targets of her journalism – to attend her funeral.

And they alleged that the minister, Mr Farrugia, had divulged confidential information that could hamper the investigation into her death. The minister has dismissed the allegation.

The spate of arrests comes just days after a European Parliament delegation from Brussels visited the island EU member state and warned that rule of law was failing there, with authorities showing a “high degree of unwillingness to investigate”.

They are the first known breakthrough in a Maltese police operation coordinated between the Police Corps, the Armed Forces of Malta and the Security Services. Europol, the EU’s police agency, has also sent a team of organised crime experts to help Maltese police investigate the assassination, joining the FBI and Dutch forensic experts.

A court hearing was set for Tuesday, at which point police can officially file charges and the suspects asked for a plea.

Last week, a cross-party delegation of MEPs travelled to Malta to assess whether the country’s law enforcement system had been “compromised”. The European Parliament had previously backed a motion expressing concern about the country’s legal and justice system.

Green MEP Sven Giegold said the group had came away from the meetings ”even more concerned over the rule of law now than before the visit, and we must follow up on what we found”.

But the delegation was criticised by the Maltese Prime Minister, who said it chose to meet with a disproportionate number of government critics and that its conclusions were “misguided”.