Man facing terrorism charges was trained in use of explosives, poisonous substances
MaltaToday is informed over one terabyte of material related to terrorism was discovered on the accused’s device
A 22-year-old Syrian man, residing in Birżebbuġa, was remanded in custody on Wednesday, on terrorism-related charges.
The court issued a publication ban on the man’s name, requested by the prosecution at this stage in order to prevent jeopardising ongoing investigations into his network.
The Syrian defendant was arraigned before Magistrate Giannella Camilleri Busuttil late on Wednesday afternoon, accused of setting up or forming part of a terrorist training organisation, inciting terrorist activity by distributing messages which promote terrorism, as well as recruiting or encouraging others to carry out terrorist activities or travelling abroad for this reason, training others to use explosives, firearms or other specific or technical actions with the intention of carrying out a terrorist attack.
The man was also accused of having himself received training in the production or use of explosives, firearms or poisonous substances for that purpose.
Further charges relating to travelling abroad in order to plan and prepare for a terrorist attack, financing or otherwise facilitating that travel, as well as distributing publications encouraging terrorism and making them available to others were also pressed.
Inspector Zammit said that yesterday another man for charges relating to financing terrorism had been arrested on a warrant. During his arrest, the defendant, who lived in the same residence as the warrant subject, while his documents were being verified, he was handed a letter of rights in Arabic.
The defendant informed the police that he might have other documentation on his phone.
Police officers noticed what appeared to be extremist material while checking his phone.
“While checking his mobile at the office we discovered that it contained much more extremist and terrorist material than we had noticed at first.”
MaltaToday is informed that over one terabyte of material related to terrorism was discovered on the device, but this did not emerge in court.
Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud asked whether the man had been living in Malta legally. He had.
The defendant was informed why he was being charged later, once an Arabic-speaking police officer could be brought to interpret.
The court declared the man’s arrest to be valid.
Mifsud told the court that the defendant was not currently in Malta illegally, because he had been here for less than 30 days, but pointed out that this period would lapse while the case is ongoing.
Lawyer Noel Bianco asked the court to officially recommend to the Principal Immigration Officer to suspend the running of the 30-day period pending the proceedings. This would prevent the man’s regular immigration status from becoming irregular, the defence explained.
The prosecution argued that it was not the court’s job to make recommendations about the man’s immigration status and pointed out that at this stage, the court had no evidence of the length of time that the defendant had been in Malta.
The court rejected the request, as it had no basis in law.
Bail was not requested.
Insp Zachary Zammit, together with prosecutors Kevin Valletta and Dejan Darmanin
Lawyers Mario Mifsud, Nicholas Mifsud and Noel Bianco.
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