Police make major cannabis haul
Six people have been arrested following a haul of 450 kilogrammes of cannabis yesterday, the police said.
They said in a statement that the find was made following a week of investigations and observations in different areas in the Swieqi and Madliena areas, which led to the identification of spots where it was being suspected that drugs were being hidden.
The first find, the police said, was in a room at a hotel in Swieqi, registered on a 28-year-old man from Lithuania and a 53-year-old Serb, who holds a British passport.
In their room the police found 15 large blocks of cannabis weighing more than 14 kilogrammes. The two men were recently lodged at a hotel in Xlendi.
Later, the police carried out an intensive search at a villa in the Wied id-Dis area in Madliena finding between the wall and the rock of its garage some 81 blocks of cannabis weighing around 80 kilogrammes. The villa’s gardeners - two brothers from Swieqi, one aged 28, the other 21, were arrested.
Later in the evening, the police carried out a search at Victor Gardens, in the limits of Ibragg, Swieqi and found, 389 blocks of cannabis weighing some 370 kilogrammes in a large underground hole accessible from a narrow hole, which only a thin person could go through.
Another search was carried out in an apartment in Wied id-Dis where more than a kilogramme of cannabis as well as weighing scales were found.
An English man and woman, aged 39 and 38, respectively, lived at this apartment.
The man attacked the officers when they went to search the apartment slightly injuring a policeman and two policewomen.
He tried to throw away the drug but he was observed doing so by the police. Both were arrested.
Magistrate Lawrence Quintano appointed experts to help with an inquiry.
The arrested people are expected to be arraigned in the coming days.
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david camilleri
Sep 10th 2009, 14:02
@ g. fenech...my point exactly. you articulated it much better than i did :) thanks!
and well said sean fenech.
if the police put some effort into catching people who speed and drink drive, then i think malta will be safer for everyone.
i think parents who speed in their car with children should be harshly punished...do all you parents agree?
drugs are not the only enemy of children... before you jump on your high horses please look around you. are the roads safe? is their teacher a good enough authority for knowledge? is their football coach a good role model? is their health care good? are you a good parent by accepting all norms?
if not...what are you doing about it?
T Pace
Sep 10th 2009, 10:46
To the Police Department.
Well done. The public appreciates your efforts in dealing with this problem.
I hope that that persons found guilty get a long, long time in jail.
Sean Fenech
Sep 10th 2009, 10:21
@A Sammut
Well said david camilleri. Let me just point out this, for whoever likes talking before RESEARCHING the facts because we get alot of smartmouths in Malta who think they know it all. During the Euro 2000 which was hosted in the Netherlands and Belgium, researchers found that fights broke out when supporters were drinking alcohol (as cannabis is illegal in Belgium). When games were being watched in Amsterdam, not a single fight broke out, and researchers described the situation as calm and mature. Have you ever heard of any fatalities caused by cannabis and driving? Or any fights from being under the influence of cannabis? Apart from these advantages and its positive medicinal use, the government can use it to its advantage from every angle. By taxing it the Government can gain tremendously from the local market, keeping in mind that it will attract tourists to Malta to gain that competitive advantage we are lacking. The police also can benefit as they can direct their attention to the bigger fish who are dealing REAL DRUGS. But unfortunately we are living in a narrow minded country. So much to say, so little time...
G. Fenech
Sep 10th 2009, 10:02
@ David Camilleri
"more people in malta die on the roads than do do from marijuana related illness"
I hate to correct you, but the way you said it makes it sound like there are Marijuana related illnesses, when in fact, there are none. Marijuana has been around since before the early egyptians, and there are no cases of marijuana related diseases / ilnesses / death.
Tobacco on the other hand, which is happily distributed everywhere, kills more people every year than all murders / hard drug use / alcohol /driving deaths etc put together.
If they had proof that marijuana was in fact dangerous to one's health, they would put posters up around every corner showing its nasty effects on the human body. The problem is, that there are none.
Just looking at the headlines of The Times, does anyone recall a headline saying "marijuana users die of overdose" ? or "cannabis smoker drives dangerously into wall"? or anything on these lines at all? No, because people who smoke marijuana do not become a threat to society, unlike drunk people with driving licenses!
THINK!
david camilleri
Sep 10th 2009, 09:37
no i dont have kids. if i did, i would do my best to educate myself about such subjects before making them fear unnecessary things. malta in these situations resemble the dogmatic arabic world and its harsh stand on drugs.
for those with kids...would you put your children on anti depressants if they were mentally ill? or give them pain killers if they were in severe pain? whats the difference? one is backed by large corporations and the other is made out to be the root of evil by corperations such as the curch and major drug companies!
more people in malta die on the roads than do do from marijuana related illness. so lets lock the car makers up for providing cars...
furthermore, i have never heard of someone on cannabis beating their wife or children.
think about what is worse please...dont just go with 'your times'.
think for yourself for once....dont be a tool!
Charles Micallef
Sep 10th 2009, 08:50
@C. Camilleri
Such amounts must have been imported on a sea vessel of some sort....Airports are normally the preference of drug importers for smaller packages or drugs hidden in suitcases or stomach linings!
However this has been, yet again an excellent result for the drug squad, let us hope that our Court of Justices do the Police work justice for their hard and diligent work!
Emanuel Scicluna
Sep 10th 2009, 06:50
Quite a big haul in one go!! I just wonder how they succeeded to pass through our custom system. I'm sure that culprits doesn't care about our kids but their only interest is how they make some quick money. They really deserve some special treatment at the Corradino Hotel.
D Agius
Sep 9th 2009, 23:50
@ w.scicluna
"The case of the small fish again..." Do you really believe that 450Kg of Cannabis is "small fish"?
A. Borg
Sep 9th 2009, 22:44
Personally, I would legalise cannabis consumption. The advantages to society far outweigh the disadvantages which include the illegal lifestyle which eventually expose young people to other illegal and ultimately more dangerous drugs.
Miguel Micallef
Sep 9th 2009, 21:02
The thing is that there's much more than 450kg of alcohol around, and it has been scientifically proved that its infinitely more harmful both to body and mind. No one worries about their kids if its called alcohol. But if it's cannabis, then ooh myyy gooood we're gonna die!
c. camilleri
Sep 9th 2009, 20:32
I curious to know how all this haul cannabis entered Malta? Are we not keeping watch at the Airport?
w.scicluna
Sep 9th 2009, 20:26
Why not go after hard drugs then waste time and resources on a ''drug'' that is used for medicinal purposes? There are no medical harmful effects in smoking cannabis so I really don't see what the fuss is all about. The case of the small fish again....
Michael Grima
Sep 9th 2009, 20:06
A big well done goes to all those involved in these operations.
Hope that the law would be severe to these perpetrators.
And people say that "nothing is being done to cambat drugs"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One again WELL DONE.
A.Sammut
Sep 9th 2009, 19:59
Well said Wally. I PRESUME the bloke hereunder does not have kids.
david camilleri
Sep 9th 2009, 19:51
proper perspective is not to demonize on substance. cannabis does not threaten the youth as much as alcohol and tobacco. these latter substance are legal and culturally accepted however they harm more people than cannabis. think of the money spent on treating tobacco and alcohol related illness compared to cannabis.
Malta would be better off legalizing cannabis and taxing it. Holland have done so and make a lot of money from it. oppressing something which need not be oppressed only makes a person want it more. it does not teach self control but reactionary thinking in an irrational way...irrational like those who justify a senseless law!
trusted members of society get less jail time when they touch children than drug dealers....go figure!
D.Xuereb
Sep 9th 2009, 19:38
Hats off for the police..now let's wait for the sentences..hope they will get what they deserve
J Baldacchino
Sep 9th 2009, 19:38
Well done police Force,and I hope you will be backed by our weak court judgments,not like the vat cases all with suspended sentences.Yes first they steal the money than they get that sentence I think thats pretty worth it!!
G. Fenech
Sep 9th 2009, 19:21
What exactly is your point Wally? are you just trying to share your weight with us, or are you trying to say that 450kg of cannabis means that there will be a lot of very sick people on the street because they couldnt get a fix? Would you also like to add that maybe there will be more crime in the next few days because the dope-fiends will be out on the streets looking for their next victim so that they can score?
450kg of cannabis less on the street, simply means that take-away stores and people who sell sweets and cookies wont be doing any large profits this month. Thats pretty much it. And FYI, coffee was found to be more addictive than cannabis, so what would you say if 450kg of coffee was caught in an underground bunker?
jsoeph cachia
Sep 9th 2009, 19:21
Under MALTESE LAW with no interferance from any expert or lecturer may we please jail each
10 years, while adding another full five years to the english person who injured the officers .
Gerard Cassar
Sep 9th 2009, 19:09
Nearly half a ton of cannabis has found its way in Malta without anyone detecting it.
There are several ways to introduce such quantity: the least possible is by air, but by sea, through a yacht, the freeport and through any vessel small as it could be are all plausible means.
Contraband by professional people is the least difficult way, but our shores are not 100% watched by the authorities. This is a point that the present case should try to uncover.
wally vella-zarb
Sep 9th 2009, 18:20
"Interesting how morally presumptuous we can be..."
Yes Gianluca. Presumptious? After all it is 'only' 450 kilos. What's 450 kilos between friends, eh? It is exactly 6 times my weight. If YOU had a 12-year old child it would probably be equivalent to 9 or 10 times its weight.
Just so that we keep things in the proper perspective...
Pace Gianluca
Sep 9th 2009, 18:04
Interesting how morally presumptuous we can be...
joseph zammit
Sep 9th 2009, 17:52
Good work! Alas--suspended sentence; parole...
Stephen Forster
Sep 9th 2009, 17:49
Sentence and throw away the key please...........