'Financial problems' made man import 10,000 pills

A Turkish man, apprehended at the airport with 10,000 pills in his luggage, told police that he was going through a time of financial difficulties when he agreed to act as the middlemanbetween the supplier in Istanbul and his client in Malta.

Giving a statement to police, Kamil Kurucu explained that he was paid $1,500 before leaving Istanbul with the drug-filled luggage and was to receive another $1,500 on his arrival in Malta, Police Inspector Nezren Grixti said.

The inspector was testifying before Magistrate Miriam Hayman in the compilation of evidence against Mr Kurucu who is pleading guilty to importing drugs to Malta on March 31.

Inspector Grixti explained that on March 31 the police were informed that a person might import drugs.

At 4.30 p.m. Drug Squad police carried out a search at the airport arrivals and when Mr Kurucu placed his luggage in the X-ray machine police saw that the luggage was packed with pills.

Mr Kurucu panicked when he was ordered to open the luggage.

He had a key that matched the luggage's lock but could not remember the combination so the luggage was forced open and the police saw that it had a false bottom.

Mr Kurucu told them that he knew the luggage contained the pills and he made a big mistake in carrying them to Malta.

He said he had come to Malta on five occasions since March 2004 and kept coming because he met a woman and fell in love but refused to divulge her identity.

Mr Kurucu and the luggage were taken to the police headquarters where police found out that the luggage contained 10,006 pills.

The following day Mr Kurucu released a statement in which he said that he worked in a coffee shop with his brother and owned a hair dressing salon in Istanbul.

He was experiencing financial problems and a man from Istanbul approached him and offered to pay him for transporting the pills to Malta.