The spate of graffiti vandalism in Sliema continues unabated, with residents and shop owners exasperated at the apparent lack of interest by the police to catch the culprits.

Last week, vandals targeted the historic milestone at the intersection between Dingli Street, High Street and St Mary Street in Sliema. It is believed that that particular act was carried out by persons affiliated with foreign gangs.

The paint was later cleaned out by architect Edward Said.

Over the past few days this newspaper has received photos of other acts of vandalism that has taken place around central Sliema. At least six garage doors were vandalised with spray paint. The figures drawn onto them were very similar to the one drawn over the milestone.

On Friday, the owner of a barber shop in Dingli Street told The Malta Independent that the premises had also fallen victim to vandalism. Vandals spray painted male genitalia over a sign shaped like a man.

The perpetrators were caught on the shop’s CCTV camera system.

“I found graffiti on one of the walls and thought it was just the odd graffiti but this seems to be more serious. I have looked through the CCTV footage and found some really interesting things. It seems there is a group of 3. One has long blonde hair and was wearing a rucksack, and the other two were dark haired. The one who was doing the graffiti had a T-shirt wrapped around his head, covering his face. This happened at 2.45am on 18 August.”

The shop owner also felt that the police were not doing enough to catch the vandals, pointing out that several shops in the area have CCTV. “Surely, if they wanted to they could find out who’s doing this.”

The lady asked us to publish the CCTV stills in hopes that someone would recognise the vandals.