Drug pusher with over 30 convictions gets five years

A drug trafficker with no fewer than 30 convictions on his criminal record was yesterday jailed for five years and fined €3,000 after he was caught with 38 grams of heroin.

Jean Claude Cassar, 37, of St Paul’s Bay, was found with the drugs on January 18, 2009 after the police had received information that he was dealing in heroin and cocaine.

During his arrest, he had violently resisted the police and refused to follow orders.

At first the police did not know where Mr Cassar lived. When they questioned him he broke his apartment key in half and swallowed part of it, presumably to stop them from getting into his flat, Police Inspector Victor Aquilina had told the court.

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia said Mr Cassar had been given countless chances to reform including a probation order as recent as 2008. However, he learned nothing.

She found him guilty of trafficking in cocaine, of being in possession of the same drug, of simple possession of heroin and of assaulting, threatening and disobeying a police sergeant and a constable.