A programme on Italian news agency Rainews24 speaks of possible links between Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder and the Libyan oil smuggling operations.

Rainews says that out of the various possible leads which could explain the motive behind Caruana Galizia's murder, oil smuggling reports are deemed as "the most credible". The courts in Catania are conducting an inquiry dubbed "Dirty Oil" which is looking into the involvement of Italian nationals and citizens from other countries, including Malta, in the oil trafficking business between Libya and the Southern parts of the Mediterranean.

Rainews spoke with Ann Marlowe, an American journalist who was the first to start investigating this issue and broke the story in articles about it in 2015. She quotes her sources from Libya claiming that Semtex, the material which was used in the explosives which killed the Maltese journalist on Monday last week, was being produced in Zwara, Libya.

Zwara is home to an organisation which takes care of the oil smuggling operations between Libya, Malta and Italy, the American journalist tells Rainews. "Semtex is considered the signature of terrorism and mafia in Libya," Marlowe adds.

The story explains how Daphne Caruana Galizia had written a post on bombs placed under cars and how she associated them with diesel trafficking. 

Stories of the links between Malta and Libya in the oil smuggling business are not new. Recent car bombs which occurred in Malta have been indirectly linked to this illegal industry although the cases are yet to be completely solved. Back in January, the Libyan authorities asked the Maltese government to provide further assistance and collaborate in the fight against fuel smuggling from Libya.