Yachtsmen in court over drugs

An English yachtsman with a drug trafficking conviction in Sicily was granted bail yesterday after allegedly being caught in possession of 60 grammes of cocaine aboard a yacht berthed in Gżira earlier this week.

The 41-year-old Richard Cranston had been found guilty by a Sicilian court of importing 3.75 kilogrammes of cocaine in 2006. He was jailed but has since served his sentence and is now in Malta with his yacht's skipper, 40-year-old Lindsey Lynch. But even though Mr Cranston has no permanent address and will be staying with his Maltese girlfriend, Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona granted him bail against a personal guarantee of €1,000.

After the magistrate read out the bail conditions, Mr Cranston asked the court if he would still be able to work on the boat. The court said he was allowed to do that and would even be able to sleep on the boat as long as he informed the police inspector.

The police were tipped off about the arrival of the yacht which berthed on a pontoon at Manoel Island and carried out a search that yielded more than 60 grammes of cocaine, a small amount of cannabis resin and 25 grammes of cannabis leaves.

In yesterday's arraignment, the skipper, Mr Lynch, also admitted to being in possession of cocaine and Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona conditionally discharged him for one year. The court took into consideration that he was a first time offender and admitted the charges immediately.

Mr Cranston, on the other hand, denied the charges.

The two men were arrested together with a Maltese woman, Mr Cranston's girlfriend, who is expected to be arraigned shortly, after the police found a small amount of cocaine and cannabis leaves at her house in Swieqi.