Yorgen Fenech charged with illegal purchase of weapons, ammunition

Yorgen Fenech was arraigned on Thursday in connection with dark web purchases of firearms and explosives in separate proceedings to those relating to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Fenech, the man accused of plotting the murder of the journalist, was seen entering the police depot in Floriana in a prison car at around 1pm, to be interrogated.

He was charged in court four hours later and accused of buying weapons in breach of the Arms Act and without having the necessary licence from the Police Commissioner.

Inspectors Omar Zammit and Geoffrey Cutajar prosecuted. Fenech was arraigned in front of Magistrate Gabriella Vella, The case will continue before another magistrate, who will be drawn by lot.

Lawyers Charles Mercieca, Marion Camilleri and Gianluca Caruana Curran appeared for Fenech. They did not contest the charges but Mercieca questioned the urgency with which police arraigned Fenech when the information related to the case had been in their hands for a long time.

In a recent court sitting it was confirmed that on 25 November 2018, Fenech had attempted to purchase automatic weapons, cyanide, grenades together with some 800 rounds of ammunition.

Assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia had told the court that the purchases were to be made on the dark web and paid for in Bitcoin.

On the same day, Fenech had contacted a hacker on the dark web in order to gain access to a phone belonging to an unidentified individual.

In September 2020, the head of the police’s Counter Terrorism Unit told a court of an attempt to purchase a silenced handgun and ammunition that was linked to Fenech’s address, naming his deceased father as the addressee.

Police reportedly noted one suspicious $50,000 transaction made from one of Fenech’s crypto wallets in January 2019 to a seller on the dark web, but it was not clear what this attempted purchase was for.

A smaller transaction, of $2,098 in April 2019 was linked to an attempt to buy 1g of potassium cyanide.

The package containing the deadly poison was set to be mailed to Fenech’s Portomaso Tower address, according to messages seen by the police. However Fenech was not charged with importing cyanide.

Fenech was arrested in November 2019 and charged with masterminding the murder of Caruana Galizia. He has been held in custody since then and the compilation of evidence against him has been ongoing.

Last week, the Attorney General issued the bill of indictment against Fenech asking for a life sentence for his part in the murder.

READ ALSO: Prosecution says accused ordered cyanide, hand grenades, submachine guns and bullets