An Eritrean man was arrested early on Saturday morning over the alleged vandalism of a number of bus stops across the island.

Police said that they were informed at 1:45am on Saturday that a man was destroying the bus stop on Triq Dun Karm in Birkirkara.

District police on site did not find anyone there, but found the glass at the bus stop broken.  A search was mounted and soon after a man who fit the description given of the alleged vandal was spotted.

The man was stopped and when police spoke to him, they noticed that he had blood on his trousers. Police searched the man’s bag and found a long piece of metal and pieces of glass.

The man, who is 31 years old, was arrested and is being held at the police’s lock-up in Floriana.

Further investigations by the police’s major crimes unit found that the man had allegedly vandalised another 13 bus stops, some more than once, around Malta in the last month.

Bus stops in Marsa, Luqa, Marsaskala, Hamrun, Lija, St. Paul’s Bay, Burmarrad, Cirkewwa, and Mellieha were damaged, at a cost of over €15,000.

Police investigations are ongoing.