Updated| Dead man's body found in Gharb, Gozo, police treating as homicide

Police are investigationg the first murder of 2018 after a dead body was found in a field in Għarb, Gozo this morning.

Sources identified the man as Walid Salah Abdel Motaleb Mohamed, 42, an Egyptian national married to a Gozitan woman and living in Zebbug, Gozo. The estranged couple had two children.

MaltaToday's sources also said that, even though the man's estranged partner had recently filed a police report on him, the police believed the murder to have been drug-related. 

The “mutilated” body was discovered early this morning near the chapel of St Dimitrius.

Mohamed was known to the police, and had previously spent time in jail for threatening to throw acid at his partner’s face if she sent their children to religion lessons at school.

Police said they were called to the scene at around 7.45am. Police believe the man was shot dead, and two gun cartridges were also found next to the body.

A police investigation is ongoing.

Magistrate Paul Coppini is leading an inquiry into the case.