Briton guilty of drug trafficking likely to challenge extradition order

A Briton wanted by the Italian authorities to serve the remainder of a jail term for drug trafficking is expected to appeal a decision by Magistrates’ Court ordering his extradition.

Richard Alistair Cranston, 43, from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire had been found guilty of drug trafficking and was sentenced to three years and 19 days in jail in Sicily but he spent two years on the run. He was eventually arrested in Malta following the issue of a European arrest warrant and contested the extradition request last month. Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna however authorised his extradition and ordered that he be returned to Malta after serving time to face pending criminal proceedings on drug possession charges here.

Lawyers Josè Herrera and Veronique Dalli were defence counsel.