There have been 104 cases of theft and fraud reported at the Gudja police station, Minister Carmelo Abela said in Parliament this evening.

He was responding to a Parliamentary Question posed by PN MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici.

The minister said that 97 thefts were recorded in addition to seven cases of fraud. He said that half of the 97 cases of theft are listed as 'other thefts', and while not knowing exactly what this mean, he suspects it refers to simple theft such as theft of mobile phones.

The PN MP asked whether more police can be assigned to this particular station as he has heard it had been closed on occasion. The minister, responding to the supplementary question, said that he will have to look into how often the station has been closed, however he said that the policy of the police force is to have more police within the community. 

He explained that there are circumstances where the smaller stations, and the Gudja station is considered to be a small station, have to close as the officers there would be needed elsewhere. He said that he will look into it.

Turning to the high number of thefts registered in this locality, and responding to a request from the PN MP to look into why there is such a high amount of thefts, he said that the police corps is moving towards intelligence led policing, and spoke of the importance of analyzing the information.

Turning to the Tourism police and responding to a question by PN MP Censu Galea, he said talks between the Tourism Ministry and his ministry are ongoing. He said that they need to analyse the results of the pilot project which occurred in St Julian's before extending it to other localities. He said that the feedback received so far has been positive.