An African pastor with thousands of euro in cash on his person has been found living among around a hundred migrants at the former La Palome Hotel in St Paul’s Bay.

TVM reported that the pastor showed the police his money during a raid this morning and was told in no uncertain terms to buy a ticket to Italy, where he had moved to Malta from.

The hundred or so migrants were evicted from the former hotel early this morning and many were found with Italian documents, meaning they had achieved some sort of status in Italy which would have allowed them to travel to another EU country for up to three months.

Most of the residents were African but a Lithuanian couple was also found renting a room.

According to The Times of Malta, police investigated and raided the former hotel after it received reports of rat infestations.

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