Home Affairs Minister Emmanuel Mallia said the Maltese authorities are seeking cooperation with other countries in a bid to bring the wrongdoers to justice, referring to smugglers who intentionally rammed a boat load of migrants two weeks ago leading to the drowning of an estimated 500 migrants, 10o0 of which are reported to have been children.

In an interview with Dr Mallia, which will appear in The Malta Independent tomorrow, the minister said that Maltese police have recorded interviews of survivors of the ordeal since this tragic event happened in Malta's Search and Rescue area.

"These people went through a horrific ordeal," the minister said.

Two Saturdays ago, around 500 migrants perished after traffickers rammed their boat intentionally after they refused to be transferred to a smaller boat. One of the migrants also had his hands chopped off after trying to cling to the traffickers' boat.

Dr Mallia also replies to other questions made by this newsroom, including claims that the number of police on the beat in Paceville have gone down as a result of cutting back on overtime.

Dr Mallia also points out that in the past, sniffer dogs that were stationed at the Corradino Correctional Facility ended up as pets of the inmates. Therefore, six dogs purchased by the government recently, which are being trained to sniff out drugs, will not be stationed at the CCF but in a separate area.

"We do not want drugs in prison where the facility is meant to serve as a place where people reform themselves," Dr Mallia insists.