Jailed eight years for association to drug trafficking

A man who was arrested by the police while buying drugs in a car was today jailed for eight years and fined €23,000 after he admitted to association to traffic drugs.

The accused, Christian Grech, also being admitted to being in possession of cocaine.

The arrest was made in December 2007 in St Paul's Bay. The police had observed Grech waiting in a car, where he was joined by a Liberian man, Ibrahim Koroma.

A police search of the car revealed several thousand liri in then Maltese currency while the Liberian man was found to be in possession of 200 grams of cocaine. A further 570 grams of heroin and 200 grams of cocaine were found in Koroma's house.

Koroma admitted to the police that he had been trafficking drug and was selling cocaine to Grech.

Grech had been buying the drug from the Liberian for Lm2,000 per 100 grams. He made at least five purchases.