Safi Barracks Weed Theft: Soldier Was Watching Movie Instead Of CCTV

An inquiry has revealed that a soldier was watching a film with earphones in while he was meant to be monitoring CCTV cameras on the night of the Safi barracks weed theft.

Retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia’s administrative inquiry found that the barracks was covered by 35 CCTV cameras and there were no blind spots. However, the soldiers who was supposed to be overseeing the cameras spent the night watching a film, speaking to his girlfriend on the phone, cooking and eating.

He didn’t conduct any patrols or check the container where the weed was located between 11:25pm and 2:50am.

Meanwhile, a bombardier who was also on duty fell asleep for two hours when he was supposed to be merely resting, meaning that he couldn’t have noticed his colleague wasn’t monitoring the cameras.

Valenzia described it as a remarkable “coincidence” that the thieves carried out the theft on a night when the soldiers on duty were distracted.

Footage shows them breaching a fence, breaking into a sealed container and making multiple trips for almost three hours. They even transported some of the weed to a garage in Ħaż-Żebbuġ before returning to the barracks to continue the robbery.

There were other security issues, such as that two large skips had partially obstructed the container where the weed was kept. A number of damaged floodlights were only repaired after the theft and three metal bars have now been welded to the container door.

However, Valenzia absolved Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri of responsibility, stating that he rightfully had no role in the AFM’s security decisions.

“The role of the minister is policy, not security technicalities,” the report stated.

Brigadier Clinton O’Neill has now been reinstated as AFM commander and disciplinary proceedings will take place against the soldiers found to have committed shortcomings.