Using the postal system to import drugs is the better option, since the new customs officials cannot be bribed, according to a Facebook exchange revealed in court.

The information was given by a police inspector who was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Andrea Busuttil, 27, accused of burglary and drug possession.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Neville Camilleri, ruled there was enough evidence to indict Mr Busuttil, who gained notoriety when he jumped into the sea at Manoel Island to avoid arrest.

Inspector Justine Grech testified that Facebook chats with a Ugandan were found on Mr Busuttil’s mobile. The chats were about a parcel which had been sent to the accused.

The message explained that the new customs officials could not be bribed and so the drugs had to be hermetically sealed. A subsequent chat revealed that heroin and cocaine samples were sent “as they were easier to send than cannabis”.

Ms Grech said photographs of the chats had been taken as she feared they would be deleted from another terminal.

Accused of burglary and possession, he gained notoriety when he jumped into the sea at Manoel Island to avoid arrest

A search at Mr Busuttil’s house turned up a brown envelope with a Dutch stamp on it containing cannabis buds.

Mr Busuttil escaped from police custody during the search at his house. He had been arrested in connection with a burglary.

Inspector Saviour Baldacchino said Mr Busuttil was one of three masked burglars who stole thousands of euros in cash from an elderly woman in Birżebbuġa in June. He recounted how a month later the police received a tip on the whereabouts of the accused, who was arrested near the Detox centre in Guardamangia with his then girlfriend, Donna Sciberras.

Ms Sciberras gave the police important details that linked her and Mr Busuttil to the Birżebbuġa burglary, including that the stolen sum amounted to some €5,000.

The inspector said the search at Mr Busuttil’s house yielded cannabis buds behind his bed and a crusher. He then told how the accused made his break for freedom as the search at his home proceeded.

“I was climbing up the spiral staircase to the roof from his bedroom and when I got halfway up, I realised that Busuttil and the sergeant who was with him were no longer in the room. I then heard doors slam and the sergeant shout ‘where are you going?’. I climbed down and found that Busuttil had escaped.” Returning to the Manoel Island incident, Inspector Baldacchino said he had seen the accused together with Ms Sciberras in Sliema and Mr Busuttil jumped into the sea to try and escape after spotting the police officers. He was arrested in the sea.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi appeared for the accused, Mr Busuttil.