The extra-duty and overtime racket that has plagued the traffic section in Malta’s police force is a decades-old problem, sources warned, insisting that looking at the case over three years would fail to address the pervasive issue.

“People can say it’s been running for the last three years, but I can tell you this was going in well before I started and well after I finished. It’s a decades-long problem that simply became part of the Police Force,” sources said.

The scheme saw traffic officers make away with tens of thousands of euros by reporting for overtime and extra-duty work they would not turn up for. There are also claims officers would collect ‘protection money’ from construction firms and misappropriate fuel.

Forty-one traffic police officers were arrested while several key figures have resigned, including the traffic section’s superintendent Walter Spiteri, the alleged mastermind of the scheme Sergeant Norman Xuereb, Sergeants Joseph Buhagiar and Frankie Sciberras, and  Police Major Dunstan Camilleri.

However, there are concerns that the resignations are just an underhanded move to keep hold of their state-funded pension. Meanwhile, questions over the role of Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cassar remain.

It is still unclear why none of the 41 people have been charged with any crime, more than three weeks after the initial arrests.

The issue has long threatened to spread to other sections of the police force, with sources previously describing a workplace culture of omertà where money reigns supreme when speaking to Lovin Malta.