A Maltese man is still in preventive custody in a Palermo jail more than six months after being arrested as part of an alleged drug trafficking ring involving Malta.
John Anthony Farrugia, a 37-year-old truck driver from Kirkop, was apprehended by Sicilian police following weeks of surveillance.
A search of his truck which he was driving down to Malta allegedly yielded two kilograms of cannabis in 20 packets hidden among the car parts loaded on his vehicle.
The arrest was made at the port of Palermo as he was waiting to board a ship destined for Malta, Sicilian police said. They suspect the cannabis, with a street value of over €25,000, was to be sold in Malta.
Sources said the Maltese police are not involved in the investigations related to the arrest but were simply informed about it. Mr Farrugia was held as part of operation Tonno Bianco – this was how the gang of drug traffickers referred to cocaine in their telephone conversations intercepted by investigators.
Along with cocaine, the investigators believe the gang was also involved in trafficking cannabis and heroin.
Contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the Mazara di Vallo police refused to give details about the operation still under way, saying only that they were trying to track down one more person.
The spokesman said Mr Farrugia was expected to be charged with drug trafficking, drug possession and conspiracy to deal in drugs.
Mr Farrugia was taken into custody a month after the arrest of another alleged member of the gang, Fabrizio Messina Denaro, the nephew of well-known mafia criminal Matteo Messina Denaro.
As part of the operation, the Italian police had filmed Fabrizio Messina Denaro handing over the drugs to Mr Farrugia.
The police later arrested another four people whom they believe were part of the drug trafficking ring that spanned Trapani, Palermo and Malta.
Investigators allege that Davide Giunta, 32, and Claudio Montevago, 52, both from Villagrazia di Carini, were the suppliers, providing cannabis, cocaine and heroin on the Italian market in the Palermo district.
They allegedly got in contact with Claudio Corona, 42, who used to sell the drugs – including what they called “tazzina di caffe” (a small cup of coffee), when referring to cannabis – through Atef Chaniour, 26, and Francesco Gancitano, 31, from Mazara di Vallo.
Mr Gancitano was arrested on June 13, 2011, with 490 grams of cannabis that the police say he had purchased from Mr Giunta. Four days later, the police arrested Fabrizio Messina Denaro who had just bought some cocaine.
On August 2, the police arrested Mr Chaniour with four packets of cannabis they say was also bought from Mr Giunta. This arrest then led the police to arrest Mr Farrugia in Palermo on September 4 as he was queuing to leave the island for Malta.