The Justice and Interior Ministry refuted claims by opposition spokesman Gavin Gulia, accusing him of not telling the truth and of misquoting statistics.

The number of armed thefts this year is the lowest in the last four years, and even less than the number of hold-ups in 1998, the last year of a Labour government. The number of policemen who had left the corps in 2006 and 2007 was even lower than the number who left in 1997 and 1998. And the government had over the last four years made four calls for recruits, two of them this year.

The police were being asked to do guard duty at HSBC bank branches on overtime payment, contrary to what happened under Labour which, on Sundays, sent the police home on the pretext of wanting them to enjoy their family, but actually to cut down on Sunday payments.

As for the budget vote for the police corps, allowances in 1998 amounted to Lm1.15 million (e2,678,779), but today these had gone up to Lm1.91 million (e2,771,954). Overtime payments had doubled and Lm700,000 worth of extra duty was carried out. This was certainly no cause for the police to be demoralised, the ministry said.