A total of 1,202 persons in Marsa were charged with prostitution and loitering over the past three years, police crime records show.

Last month, The Malta Independent on Sunday revealed that there was only one prostitution case in St Julian’s reported in the period of five years.

The sole incident, that of loitering, occurred in 2021. Questions were raised as to why there was only one case reported to the police, with speculations being that the public might have grown used to this scene in the entertainment hub, despite the soliciting of prostitution being illegal in the country.

The situation is different in the locality of Marsa.

In the last three years, 1,202 persons were allegedly caught in the act and were charged by the police.

Sources from the National Police System (NPS) and the Local Enforcement System (LES) revealed statistics on prostitution charges over the past three years, starting from 2020.

664 persons were charged in 2022 alone in Marsa, up until 30 November. In the previous year, 519 persons were charged with prostitution and loitering in this locality.

There was a significant increase in the number of charges between the years of 2020 and 2021. Only 19 individuals were charged with prostitution in 2020 but, in the following year, a sharp increase was recorded with 519 individuals charged.

The Covid-19 pandemic was in full swing in 2020, which could be speculated as the reason for the large discrepancy.

This newsroom also acquired prostitution charges for the localities of Hamrun and Gzira, which saw significantly less individuals charged for the same crime.

A total of 24 individuals were charged with prostitution over three years in Hamrun, with 19 being charged in 2022. Only four were charged in the year of 2021, and one individual was charged for prostitution in 2020 in Hamrun, crime records show.

There were no individuals charged for prostitution and loitering in Gzira in 2022. Three were charged in 2021, whilst one was charged in 2020.

Police crime records did not specify on the gender, age, and nationalities of these individuals.