The owner of the stables in Marsa where police found around 80 migrants living in cramped and squalid conditions has reassured people he was going to race them eventually.
“I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It’s not like they’re cooped up in the stables all the time. Every morning I harness them all up and take them for a trot around the track,” owner Nazju Tonna told journalists.
He added that, if the migrants didn’t collapse with exhaustion, he would reward them with food.
“Once they were fit, I was planning to organise a race. It was going to be open to the public and tickets were going to be €150 each. Plus, the competitors would have paid an entry fee over and above the rent they’re due. The great thing about migrants is that they have money, whereas horses usually don’t.
“Of course that’s all ruined now thanks to the police rudely barging into the place without so much as a knock on the door.”
When confronted with accusations of cruelty, Tonna said: “Everyone has to eat. Ħalluni naghmel lira!”
