The Malte Police Force has confirmed that its officers counted to 300 million before they started looking for fugitive Ryan Schembri.
Schembri, the former owner of More Supermarkets, fled Malta in 2014 after amassing huge debts. Last month, he was found in Scotland after being issued a speeding ticket, and has now been extradited and charged with money laundering.
Asked why it took the police so long to find him, Commissioner Angelo Gafà said:
In cases where a suspect absconds, it is standard police practice to give said suspect a head start, just to make things fun for us. This involves the unit in charge of the case closing their eyes and counting to a number they see fit. Officers normally count to 10, but in the case of Ryan Schembri, Ian Abdilla [the now-suspended former Assistant Commissioner and head of the Economic Crimes Unit] decided to count to 300 million.”
Gafà said that, at the time, there was nothing in the rules that stopped a police officer counting to 300 million.
“The search was further delayed because Keith Schembri [Ryan Schembri’s cousin] used to come to the depot and yell random numbers, which confused Abdilla and his team and forced them to keep starting over again,” he said.”
The Commissioner said that since being appointed, he had made several changes to police procedure.
“We no longer play ‘I Spy’ with suspects to try and get information out of them during interrogation, while we have now hired a sketch artist to draw facial composites of suspects instead of using a ‘Guess Who’ board.
