‘Missing’ container carrying cigarettes arrives back in Malta

The container carrying cigarettes which the PN newspaper, In-Nazzjon, had alleged last week “disappeared by mistake”, has now been returned to Malta, the Customs Department at the Freeport said.

Last week, in-Nazzjon claimed that the container had “disappeared by mistake”, and that an unknown person had given instructions to load the container onto an outbound vessel.

In response, the Malta Freeport issued a statement denying the reports and explained that on June 16th, the container was erroneously loaded onto a vessel instead of another container which had a similar identification code. However, the Freeport said that, “in a matter of a few hours”, the container had been identified and arrangements were made to have the container returned to Malta. Furthermore, the Freeport said that the case was being investigated and disciplinary action will be taken against two officials.

And in a second statement issued this morning, the Freeport confirmed that the container had arrived back in Malta without having been tampered with in any way.

“Customs is now in a position to confirm that the container in question has arrived back in Malta with its seal still in place,” it said. “After all the necessary verifications were made, the container was opened by Customs in the presence of its owner. The goods were counted and it was found that there had been no tampering.”

The statement also confirmed that the container will now be shipped to its original destination.