A Gozitan who admitted manufacturing bullets yesterday denied he knew they were destined for Libya.

Contrary to what he had told the police in a statement, on the witness stand Mario Farrugia denied Michael Azzopardi had told him he was buying the ammunition to sell to someone in Libya.

Mr Azzopardi, who owns Magru Gun Shop, and another man, Yaacob Feraj, are pleading not guilty to organising or financing a criminal organisation and conspiring with people outside Malta in breach of the Firearms Act this year.

They also denied illegally storing explosives, making bullets and selling them to Libyan firms when they knew or suspected they could be used against the population.

Mr Azzopardi alone denied failing to keep a weapons inventory and a register of his customers and possessing more than 12,000 cartridges, while Mr Feraj denied illegally possessing ammunition.

While Mr Farrugia, who received a two-year suspended jail term over the case, was being questioned by Inspectors Michael Mallia and Keith Arnaud about his knowledge of the ammunition’s destination, Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit warned him lying under oath was serious.

He then said he suspected it was going to Africa because of the large order, as bullets were hard to come by on that continent.

Mr Farrugia said he had a shop in Victoria called Hobbies and he had a licence to import and sell firearms and ammunition. A licensee would be able to store a maximum of seven kilograms of gunpowder while an individual could keep 1.5 kilos.

He would legally buy the empty cartridges, bullet heads and primer from abroad and made the bullets in his garage at home.

He sold about 16,000 bullets on three occasions to Mr Azzopardi, who would phone directly to make an order. The last was for 13,000.

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