Police sergeant denies leaking police operation information to third parties

A police officer is being held in preventive custody after she was accused of leaking information related to police operations to third parties.

Cherise Camilleri, a 28-year-old from Qormi, denied the charges in a quick, but tense arraignment on Saturday afternoon.

The court heard that during an investigation, a number of confidential sources had told the police that a police officer from the drugs squad had been leaking information about police operations for months, “and possibly years.”

The investigators were told that the police officer was a woman named Cherise who had a tattoo on her arm.

The investigators also examined social media profiles of a person of interest in an investigation, as it resulted that the person of interest and the accused knew each other.

Camilleri was arrested on 18 November, as her mobile phone was seized. She denied her involvement in the leaks and was granted police bail, as investigators began the extraction process from her mobile phone. 

The information obtained from the extraction would later result that Camilleri had lied in her statement to the police, leading to her being arrested yet again on 21 November.

On that day, the police arrested another person in connection to the same crime, seizing his mobile phone and finding information on police operations shared with him.

Camilleri denied the charges brought against her on Saturday, as the defence did not request bail at this stage.

Representing the Attorney General are lawyers Maria Francesca Spiteri and Kevin Valletta., who are aided by Inspectors Christian Delia and Lydon Zammit. Camilleri is being assisted by Arthur Azzopardi and Frank Tabone.