Maltese police have arrested eight suspects in the murder of anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday, almost two months after she was killed when her car was blown up.
All of the suspects are Maltese nationals and most have a criminal record, the prime minister said, without providing any further details. The police have 48 hours to question the suspects, arraign them or release them.
Caruana Galizia, 53, was murdered on Oct. 16 as she was driving away from her house in northern Malta.
She wrote a popular blog in which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged graft targeting politicians from across party lines.
Galizia was following leads from the Panama Papers that were leaked in 2015 and show how the world's rich use offshore firms to hide their wealth. She had also accused senior figures in government and opposition of corruption and money laundering.
They have all denied the accusations and Galizia was hit with 36 libel suits in the nine months preceding her death.
Her murder shocked Malta and raised concern within the European Union about the rule of law on the tiny Mediterranean island. Concluding a factfinding mission on Friday, a group of EU lawmakers said there was a "perception of impunity" in Malta.