Sunday, 21st September 2008

Fourth person charged after heroin find at airport

Matthew Xuereb

A fourth person was yesterday remanded in custody after being charged with the importation of 3.5 kilogrammes of heroin discovered at the airport last Wednesday.

Libyan national Faisal Mohamed Wadi, 31, who is married to a Maltese woman, was charged with conspiracy to traffic heroin and importation.

Mr Wadi, who resides in Qormi, is the fourth person to be charged over this case. He pleaded not guilty but was denied bail.

Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna directed the director of the Corradino Correctional Facility to ensure that Mr Wadi does not come in contact with another three people also in custody over the same case.

Last Friday, 46-year-old Anna Spiteri of Marsa was charged after she was allegedly caught carrying a large quantity of heroin on her arrival from Tunisia. Another two Libyan men, Mohamed Ahmed Margash, 26, of Marsascala and Issam Abdulmawla Zbeda, 29, of Żebbuġ, also denied similar charges were remanded in custody.

Police Inspectors Stephen Gatt and Pierre Grech prosecuted while lawyers Michael Schiriha and Ian Farrugia appeared for the defendants.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Sunday, November 22, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

C. Scerri (on 21/9/08)

The fact that such finds are being made proves that the searches are working - BTW I have never been stopped by customs during my numerous entries in any European state - the last time my luggage was searched was back in 1992, in France - and I fly an average of once a month!

So border controls have only made our life simpler.

John Azzopardi (on 21/9/08)

Congratulations on the removal of border controls. It always baffles when I visit Malta at the lack of searches. This to me proves that Malta is turning into a big transhipment point for drugs. Is this the Malta we want our children to be brought up in and live. Look at the UK. It's part of the EU, but it has one of the toughest security searches in the world. Maybe we should follow the UK lead.

l Galea (on 21/9/08)

If found guilty, expulsion after serving his sentence is what all parents demand