Cap. 234 ст. 371DWhere person is in custody for an offence committed at sea. 

(1) If the prisoner is being kept in custody on board a foreign merchant ship, not under a written order of a public authority, but for the purpose of being conveyed to a port in the

State of his or the ship's nationality, there to be tried for an offence committed on board the same ship during the voyage, it shall also be lawful for the President of Malta, at the request of the consul, or any other person exercising the function of consul of the State to which the ship belongs, to direct that such prisoner be left on board the ship, or, according to circumstances, that he be kept in a public prison until he may be taken back to the same or to another ship, in order to be conveyed to the said port, provided however the magistrate, after hearing the prisoner and the evidence adduced, finds -

(a) that, according to such evidence, if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of Malta, there would be sufficient reasons for committing the accused for trial;

(b) that the offence is an extradition offence under any law relating to extradition in force in Malta, even though such law may not apply to fugitive criminals of the said State.

(2) The provisions of this article shall not apply in any case in which the accused may, according to law, be tried in Malta.