A Maltese man who was on Europol’s most wanted list has been caught in Libya, while his wife was found dead.

Jomic Calleja Maatouk, 38, was arrested on Thursday evening a 90-minute drive east of Tripoli.

It is understood that his wife Marzia, who was also on the list of the most wanted, was found dead.

Police sources told this newsroom that a wanted Maltese man was arrested in Libya, and that another wanted person was found dead. The sources said that an autopsy will confirm cause of death.

The man caught was widely reported to be Maatouk and the person found dead to be his wife. The sources said that an autopsy will confirm cause of death

The operation leading to his arrest was carried out by Libyan officers with the assistance of the Maltese police.

Calleja Maatouk, who had been convicted of importing explosives and trying to buy lethal poisons over the darkweb, had gone missing last August.

Calleja Maatouk, 36, failed to sign a bail book for a number of days and was considered a wanted man.

Marzia had also been reported missing at the time.

Calleja Maatouk had been jailed for five years in July after a magistrate concluded that he was guilty of importing explosives, document forgery, using that forged document, breaching previous bail conditions and relapsing.

A court heard evidence of how Calleja Maatouk had tried to buy lethal doses of radioactive material Polonium-210, highly toxic poison Ricin, killer drug Fentanyl and C-4 explosive off a darkweb marketplace. 

In her judgment, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech had described Calleja Maatouk as “a lethal weapon” who was ready to open “the gates of hell upon whoever he deemed an inconvenience to be eliminated.”

But he was allowed out of custody after being convicted. According to Maltese law, people who are found guilty of a crime and sentenced to prison time by a magistrate’s court are allowed out of custody if they appeal that decision, pending the final outcome of those proceedings.

Calleja Maatouk had absconded barely a month after the judgment.

Marzia had also been reported missing at the time. She was not involved in his dark web case, but she was charged in September 2019 with possession with intent to supply. Marzia Marimar Maatouk Calleja, was sentenced in July 2023 to 15 months imprisonment and to pay €3,500.00 in court fees and fine. This sentence was appealed, and, like her husband, she vanished, resulting in her being placed on the wanted list.

Jomic Calleja Maatouk had been previously arrested in Taormina, Sicily back in February 2015 on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant issued in connection with the interception of an 18kg consignment of cannabis grass and other drugs.

During the course of their investigations, the accused emerged as a suspect, however he absconded to Sicily before he could be questioned.

Jomic Calleja Maatouk was subsequently charged with trafficking in cocaine, conspiring to import and traffic cannabis grass and selling it.

He was also charged with being in possession of a firearm without the necessary licence, firing it in an inhabited area and breaching previous bail conditions.

Jomic Calleja Maatouk had also been charged with firing an AK-47 assault rifle in a Qormi garage complex on two occasions in the summer of 2013.

The police had searched his residence in August 2013 and recovered four 7.62mm x 39mm rounds, which correspond with the AK-47 weapon system. A pill-making machine was also retrieved.

Jomic Calleja Maatouk was the subject of three European Arrest Warrants in connection with three separate criminal cases.

In February 2013 he was placed on probation for three years and fined €700 after he pleaded guilty to falsification of cash. He also admitted to buying counterfeit cash, breaching the conditions of a previous release, and being a relapser.

In 2010, he was charged with conspiracy to traffic 17 kg of cannabis resin, which allegedly imported through the post over a number of months. Calleja alone was also charged with importing and trafficking in cannabis. The cannabis was sent in parcels from the UK to various addresses.

In November 2010, the court ordered a freeze on Jomic Calleja Maatouk’s assets and banned him from travelling.