Replying to questions at question time in Parliament recently, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, when asked to reveal the Rules of Engagement of Frontex mission Nautilus III, said they were “top secret”.

Now a German journalist has succeeded in discovering the rules that are followed by the naval units of Italy, Malta, France, Germany, Spain and Greece.

Roman Herzog, in his latest documentary, War in the Mediterranean, has the Italian Guardia di Finanza admitting that some units of Frontex sequester foodstuffs and fuel from the boats of illegal immigrants, thus forcing them to return to the places from where they have just sailed.

This practice was not denied by the director of Frontex, Ilkka Laitinen, who was interviewed by Herzog in the

documentary.