Police tell court about operation to catch drug courier

A police inspector this morning told the court about their operation to catch a Spanish drug courier and three Nigerian men alleged to form part of a drug ring and who are being charged with importing cocaine and money laundering.

Police Insepctor Herman Mula said that on October 2 a suspicious man coming on a flight from Valencia was stopped at the airport.

The man, Nigerian Paul Ugochukwu Offor, 37, from Spain, had an SMS on his mobile phone stating that he should go to the Tropicana Hotel in St Julian’s.

The police, Inspector Mula said, suspected that this man was accompanying the drug courier Benito Domingo.

The police went to the Tropicana hotel, where they found Mr Domingo. Inside the room he had a piece of luggage which had two false compartments containing two large packets of white powder, suspected to be cocaine. They also found tobacco which they suspected was mixed with cannabis.

In a police statement, Mr Domingo said that he had met a Nigerian man called Michael and they agreed to bring a cutting agent to Malta. When he arrived at the hotel, he tried some of this white powder by first rubbing some on his teeth and then sniffing it to check if it was genuine.

While taking the statement at the police headquarters, Mr Domingo’s mobile phone rang and through limited English vocabulary and Spanish they managed to understand that a man who later turned out to be Kingsley Wilcox, had turned up at the hotel to pick up the bag.

The police went straight to Paceville where they arrested Mr Wilcox and on him found three mobile phones, €2,000 cash in an envelope and a further €700 in his wallet.

The case continues.