Personal effects being stolen from Malta’s beaches is still a problem but, compared to previous years, there has been a reduction in the number of items reported as being stolen. With the summer season in full swing, Malta’s beaches – crowded with both tourists and Maltese – have become havens for petty theft. The number of items reported as stolen from beaches soared in 2015 but is gradually declining. There were 337 reports in 2015 in the period between May and September and 167 reports between May and July, compared with 128 in the May to July period this year.
In fact, at present 2017 is seeing the lowest number of such incidents in the last five years. The summer of 2012 saw the highest number of reports (295), according to data supplied by the police, compared with 2013 (265), 2014 (245) and 2016 (187).
As far as various locations are concerned, the figures show that the area around St Julian’s was and remains the worst for items reported stolen from the beach. St George’s Bay recorded the highest number of thefts in all five years. However, 2017 still saw a lower number of cases, with a total of 21 at St George’s Bay between May and July compared to 29 in 2016.
The year 2015, meanwhile, saw a considerably large number of items being stolen from St George’s Bay, with a total of 69 between May and July, and 125 between May and September – the highest number in the five years. In the same period in the same area there were 75 thefts in 2014, 34 in 2013 and 59 in 2012.
Sliema is also another hotspot for thefts from beaches, with an increased number of thefts this year compared to last. This year there were 17 cases compared to the 13 last year between May and July. However 2015 still tops them both, with 28 cases between May and July in the Sliema area. Interestingly enough, however, in the last two years, the Surfside area appears to have the highest number of items reported stolen from beaches, with five this year between May and July and nine in 2016 between May and September.
There were 13 incidents in tourist hotspot, the idyllic Blue Lagoon, between May and July this year compared to six cases last over the whole of last summer. In 2015 there were only three cases, 12 in 2014, four in 2013 and 16 in 2012.
Further north, Għadira Bay in Mellieħa saw 11 cases of theft in 2017 between May to July. Interestingly, 2015 had the lowest number of cases with 15 being reported, compared with 14 in 2016, 29 in 2014, 41 in 2013 and 32 in 2012.
This year, St Paul’s Bay area – which includes Buġibba, Qawra and Paradise Bay – had fewer reported cases than last year with 14 between May and July, compared with 26 in 2016, 30 in 2015, 17 in 2014, 24 in 2013 and 15 in 2012.
On the other hand, in the south, areas such as Birżebbuġa and Wied iż-Żurrieq had hardly any reports of thefts from beach areas, with one case this year, two in 2016, one in 2015, two in 2014, three in 2013 and four in 2012.