Foxes guarding the henhouse

Well, what else were we expecting to happen to a container full of cannabis resin in a mafia state?

Forgive me if I do not sound as outraged as you may expect me to be after the events that unfolded over the weekend.

Shouting from the rooftops about the same fact for years on end does get tiring, after all.

I often get puzzled, horrified looks whenever I describe Malta as a mafia state. Whenever something as dramatic as a 200kg drug heist happens, it becomes undeniable.

It’s like ignoring that annoying noise that your car is making, right up until it sputters to a halt. Though you initially feel surprised and angry, you later admit to yourself that you knew it was bound to happen. You swear you’ll go to the mechanic for more regular servicing, only to then become complacent again over the next few months.

In the case of Malta and its status as a mafia state, I no longer have any anger left. I only have a determined resolution to document it as it happens and fight to change it at all costs. This latest scandal is merely another notch in a feather cap full of unaddressed grievances.

We’ve heard plenty about what home affairs minister Byron Camilleri had to say about this mess. Actual facts remain scant.

To be clear, the information relayed below is based on the government’s official statements so far. I do not have any immediate sources verifying the story and can only base my analysis on what makes sense and what doesn’t.

200kg of cannabis resin were stored in a container stored in a site owned by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM). The site in question is the AFM’s barracks in Ħal Safi. The stolen consignment was seized as part of a bigger haul from Malta’s Freeport last year.

The 200kg that were stolen at around 3am on Sunday were pending destruction orders. Though they would usually be stored at the Freeport until then, they were moved to Safi because of the possibility of industrial action.

On Sunday morning, the home affairs minister published a statement about the theft, outlining the facts mentioned above and going out of his way to make a whole show out of offering his resignation to the prime minister.

Though Byron Camilleri only offered rather than handed in his resignation, AFM brigadier Clinton O’ Neill was suspended until an administrative inquiry ordered by the prime minister and a separate police investigation overseen by a magistrate shed further light on the theft.

In turn, prime minister Robert Abela has already prematurely pronounced that he “doesn’t see why” he should accept the minister’s resignation.

More on the prime minister and his lieutenant in a minute.

What’s really got people talking is that this was supposed to be a secured site. In his public statement, the home affairs minister stated that CCTV cameras and AFM patrols were guarding the container, which was sealed.

And yet, somehow, an unknown group of individuals managed to bust this seal open, load a vehicle with 200kg of cannabis resin, and depart without triggering any reports of suspicious activity. This emerges from the minister’s claim that the theft was discovered during a routine inspection after 3am.

And so, we are left with plenty of unanswered questions.

Who was behind this audacious theft from right beneath our armed forces’ noses?

How did they do it?

And, most important of all – why are our armed forces in a state that is pitiful enough for something like this to happen to begin with?

The ‘who’ and the ‘how’ seem easiest to answer.

If the site was as secure as the minister claims it was, then CCTV should immediately help at the very least discern how it happened. From then on out, it should be straight on to who did it.

That is based on the assumption that the site’s security system is not as dilapidated as the battered exterior of the barracks suggests and that the patrols were actually patrolling.

It’s obvious that nobody could pull off this kind of theft without a measure of insider access. At the very least, one would have had to know the movements of the patrols and be able to navigate around them accordingly. At most, all this could be achieved with the compliance of the handful of soldiers that would be stationed at the site.

Though non-malicious incompetence may feature as part of the factors that enabled this theft, it seems less likely that an external party would have been able to pull this off without extensive monitoring and considerable resources, even if nobody on the base was paying any attention.

Deploying such resources is simply not worth anyone’s time given the relatively minor street value of the product in question. For the kind of criminal organisation that can coordinate shipments of hundreds of kilos of cannabis, such a shipment would be a relatively minor loss. Better to write it off than attract more attention by taking it back from whichever authority happened to seize it.

The fact that the resin was being held there was not known to the public, which further augments the possibility that an insider was involved.

This analysis of the primary elements that emerge from the official explanation alone already offer more than enough reasons for Byron Camilleri to hang his head in shame and resign his post immediately.

At best, we are talking about extremely severe incompetence within the ranks of our armed forces, the kind that is so egregious that it would normally lead to a wider investigation about the status of our disciplined corps in general. The minister is entirely responsible for their performance. Giving the brigadier an extended holiday doesn’t cut it.

At the very worst, we are talking about a theft that has all the hallmarks of the classic inside job that can only be cooked up by someone who’s spent far too long staring at the abysses of temptation.

Which brings us to the ‘why’ – why are we here?

The fact is that the AFM has been systemically ripped apart by the Labour government. The government’s direct interference in the army’s internal hierarchy deprived the country of an army commanded by its finest soldiers in favour of an army that is commanded by its own stooges.

Clinton O’ Neill and the deputy commander who is presumably in charge throughout his suspension were both appointed to their post following weeks of backroom lobbying by various factions from within the party. His suspension is bound to trigger more instability and chaos among the AFM’s disorganised ranks.

Camilleri is the fourth to hold the keys to the home affairs ministry since Labour first swept to power twelve years ago. His predecessors all resigned in disgrace, all insisting that they didn’t deserve it when it was plainly obvious to everyone else that they did.

Camilleri outlasted all of them because he is safe in the knowledge that his boss is just as hopelessly compromised as he is.

If you wish to understand why we are stuck with such an arrogant bully for a home affairs minister, allow us to refresh your memory with this perfect example of how Camilleri gives his bosses full-throated praise and is always rewarded accordingly for his loyalty as a result.

Remember that he is talking about a prime minister who resigned in disgrace following the collapse of our rule of law and the state-backed assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

When we relegate the disintegration of the rule of law to the backseat of our conscience – just like that annoying rattling noise that your car keeps making – the inevitable result is the collapse of every other system that was meant to enforce the rule of law.