This brought the total of illegal immigrants who have landed in Malta since January this year to 767.

The first group of 12 illegal immigrants were arrested at around 11.30pm on Sunday evening after the police had received an anonymous tip off that a group of people suspected to be illegal immigrants were in Qala village centre. Soon afterwards, another group of 19 illegal immigrants were also apprehended in the area.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the group of 31 illegal immigrants had arrived in Hondoq ir-Rummien Bay in Qala, where the police found the abandoned boat used by them to reach our shores.

Most of the illegal immigrants (10) are claiming they are Palestinian, seven say they are Egyptian, six claim they hail from Sudan, four say they are from Eritrea and another four claim that they are Iraqi.

A few hours later, the police were informed that another group of 21 illegal immigrants on board an 18-foot sea vessel, had landed at Marsaxlokk Bay in the south of Malta.

At first, these immigrants claimed they were Tunisian. However, they later told police that 20 of them were Palestinian, while another was Egyptian.

Meanwhile, at around 6.30am, Gozo police arrested an illegal immigrant as he was preparing to board the Gozo ferry. Sources said he was going to pay for the ferry with a small amount of Euros in his possession.

All the cases are being investigated by Immigration police.