Jailed for possession of heroin for sale

A man was yesterday jailed for two and a half years and fined Lm500 for the possession of heroin for sale.

Raymond Vella was found guilty of heroin possession in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use on and before March 13, 1997 and relapsing.

He was, however, cleared of trafficking after Magistrate Noel Cuschieri ruled that the charge had not been sufficiently proven.

The magistrate heard how police saw Vella in Zejtun driving up to a car with three young men.

Vella was on a motorbike and the police intervened and saw him throw something to the ground and found a package of heroin sachets. They also found one sachet in the car.

But Vella said that the package did not belong to him and that he had stopped by the car to buy drugs from the three youths.

Magistrate Cuschieri ruled that Vella had tried to shift the blame onto the three youths to avoid criminal responsibility and noted that Vella had previously been convicted of drug-related charges.

Police Superintendent Nicholas Ciappara prosecuted.