Three persons are expected to be arraigned in court this afternoon in connection with the double murder of Mario Camilleri, l-Imniehru, 51, and his son, Mario, 21, and that of taxi driver Matthew Zahra, who went missing last year and whose remains were found next to the bodies of the Camilleri relatives.

In a crime conference this afternoon, the police said that two people will be arraigned in connection with the killing of Matthew Zahra, who went missing on 15 August. The police said Zahra was killed on the day he went missing, possibly as a result of a number of gunshot wounds, however the murder weapon hasn’t been recovered by police as yet.

Another person will be arraigned in connection with the murder of Mario Camilleri Senior and Mario Camilleri Junior, after their relative Jason Galea was charged on Friday.

As yet, police have still to establish the calibre of the weapon used to kill Zahra and if it matched the weapon used to kill the Camilleris.

Asked if the person who has been charged with the double murder will be charged with Zahra’s murder as well, the police said that they couldn’t reveal such information prior to today’s arraignments.

The police said that the father was killed in Marsaxlokk and the son was killed later at Birzebbuga.

The police said that the knife used in the murder of Camilleri jnr was recovered from the murder scene however a fire-arm, also found at the scene, is not the same weapon which brought to an end the life of Camilleri Jnr. The police confirmed he was stabbed 34 times.

Asked to confirm whether Camilleri snr died of a heart attack, prior to being shot, the police said that it’s the pathologists who could answer such questions, however no members of the pathology team were present to confirm the suggestion.

The police did not confirm nor deny that the remains found at the scene of the murder belong to Zahra since DNA tests are still ongoing.

Assistant Commissioner Pierre Calleja commended the forensic team for their sterling work related to the processing of the crime scene. He said a great amount of soil was dug up for clues.

Calleja said that until now, there seems to be no connection to the spate of murders that occurred last year and this year, referring to the ‘gang’ killings.

Asked if last week’s double murder case and Zahra’s murder could shed new light on the case of Terence Gialanze, 24, who went missing on November 27, Calleja said that they are looking at all possibilities related to missing persons.

On December 4, Gialanze’s car, a Fiat 500, was found by police, a week after he had gone missing.

A drugs possession case against Gialanze had been put off at the beginning of this year as “he has still not been located”.

The case, on possession of cannabis and ecstasy, was due before Magistrate Edwina Grima.