The head of the Defence Directorate at the Office of the Prime Minister went on site at the Armed Forces of Malta illegal explosives store in Nadur, Gozo, last Wednesday, after the storage of tons of high explosives there was revealed by this newspaper two weeks ago.
Accompanied by AFM officers, OPM’s Vanessa Fraser (seen in the photos) crossed over to Gozo to check for herself the precarious situation described in alarming terms in army memos as far back as 10 years ago.
And yet, it was only after this newspaper revealed the existence of the illegal explosives store that Lawrence Gonzi ordered “a full review of the situation” – which incidentally already exists in decades-old memos.
So far, the detonators have been separated from the high explosives although these were also put in unsafe conditions as they are now situated in a room just behind the AFM shooting range.
Although the official correspondence leaked to MaltaToday clearly shows direct correspondence between the army, the Gozo ministry and the prime minister’s office, all of them have been sitting on the warnings since 1998.
The former Mayor of Nadur, who is now also a Parliamentary Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister for Information and Public Dialogue, Chris Said, has also joined Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono in denying any knowledge of the explosives store in his locality.
“As former Mayor of Nadur I was not aware of an AFM store in the area known as il-Qortin,” Said said. “Since the Prime Minister instructed the Defence Matters Directorate and the AFM to immediately conduct a full review of the situation and to submit their recommendations, I feel one should await the outcome of this review.”
As things stand, the AFM store remains an illegal depository of explosives until an alternative site is found according to international standards.
AFM had indicated the area next to Gordan Lighthouse as the ideal site to relocate their explosives store 10 years ago, but the Gozo ministry had refused to fork out the funds to construct a road leading to the site.
The only legal and remaining alternative would be transporting the explosives back to Fort Mosta – an option that has been postponed by the government in its bid to keep Gozitan quarry owners serviced with explosives.
Until MaltaToday released details of the memos, the AFM insisted its garage was “relatively safe” while its own officers were busy removing detonators from the explosives store.
AFM also confirmed the site is also used for firing practice, in clear breach of instructions given 10 years ago by then Alfred Sant’s defence advisor, Martin Scicluna.
“In our judgement, the safety aspect must be dealt with immediately,” Scicluna had warned.
“With small arms training and the use of pyrotechnics taking place in the area there is a risk which is not acceptable and should not be taken. … the present location, slap in the middle of the living accommodation area, is unsafe and unacceptable. … The store is not purpose-built for ammunition storage and is not earthed against lightning strikes. It is situated in the middle of the camp. An explosion could have catastrophic consequences.”

kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt

Clarification:
In last week’s ‘AFM explosives story wreaks havoc at Castille’, it was reported that Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue and Information Chris Said had not yet answered MaltaToday’s questions on the issue. Unfortunately, the questions were sent to the wrong email address by mistake, hence they could not reach Dr Said’s office. The mistake is regretted