Jury still deliberating

The jury was last night still deliberating in the trial of a hotel owner and company director charged with smuggling illegal immigrants in 2003 three weeks after 54 escaped from police headquarters.

Until going to print late last night, Joseph Vella, 54, of Victoria, and Phillip Azzopardi, 67, of Birkirkara were still waiting to hear their fate after a week-long trial.

They are accused of trafficking illegal immigrants and harbouring criminals, assisting in their escape and providing the means of their escape from Malta.

The court on Monday heard the testimony of chief investigator, Police Inspector Jeffrey Cilia, who said that on August 8, 2003, the police caught 14 illegal immigrants, six of whom had escaped from police headquarters together with another 49 three weeks earlier.

They were arrested on the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq seashore. During questioning, the immigrants told police they had been hiding at the Xemxija Bay Hotel. Police searched the hotel where they found another two of the escaped immigrants.

Eight of the immigrants had told police about their escape. They said once they left headquarters they met a man called David near the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana.

David allegedly called Mr Azzopardi from a nearby phone booth, who soon arrived in a car and drove the immigrants away in several trips.

Four men said Mr Azzopardi took them to the Xemxija Bay Hotel, three said he took them to a garage and another said he took him to a house.

The four men taken to the hotel said some time later Mr Azzopardi picked them up and took them to a guest house in Gozo.

Then, on August 8, they said they were picked up by a van belonging to another man, Francis Xerri, Mr Vella’s friend, and driven to a boat where a man and woman were waiting.

They went to Malta where another van was waiting for them. Along the way they stopped to pick up more immigrants, and Mr Azzopardi allegedly collected money from those who had not yet paid.

Some said they handed over $150, others $900, some $1,050 and others Lm300 by transferring money from a bank account in Germany into Mr Azzopardi’s bank account. One Turkish man said he had paid Mr Azzopardi $800, the officer said.

It is alleged that the couple and Mr Azzopardi eventually left and the immigrants were apprehended by police at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.