A haulier and a Freeport security officer were remanded in custody today after pleading not guilty to being accomplices in defrauding the government of more than €2 million in unpaid duty and taxes in a major  cigarette smuggling operation. 

The case revolves around a container with more than 10 million cigarettes which was stolen, emptied and then returned to its place at the freeport.

Haulier Malcolm Zammit, 35, from Qormi, and security officer Christopher Calleja, 51, from Valletta, denied the charges brought against them. 

Today's was the second arraignment following that of customs officer Sebastian Zammit, 60, from Safi and Malta Freeport employee Roderick Borg, from Qormi. They were arraigned on Sunday. 

The investigation was launched following a report that a container which was shipped to Malta on July 24 was  taken out of the Freeport, only to be returned to its original location 90 minutes later. It still bore the Customs Department security seals.

The prosecution, led by Inspectors Rennie Stivala and Carlos Cordina from the Economic Crimes Unit, charged the men with the theft of the container from the Freeport laden with 10.5 million cigarettes.

The consignment was in 1,050 cases each containing 10,000 cigarettes valued at €304,500 in total.

The prosecution said the operation took place on August 7, after the container had been shipped to Malta aboard the merchant vessel Northern Jasper. It was also pointed out that the quality of the cigarettes was found to be very low.

The men are alleged to have defrauded the government out of €1.667 million in excise duty, €175,000 in importation duty and €386,000 in Value Added Tax, for a combined figure of €2.23 million.

Inspector Stivala told Magistrate Neville Camilleri that the police were investigating other people who could have been involved in the operation, including relatives of the four men who had already been taken to court. 

He objected to a request for bail, saying that the prosecution had several civilian witnesses who still had to testify, with many of them being work colleagues. 

The defence did not insist on its request for bail but urged the prosecution to summon all its witnesses for the next sitting. 

Lawyer Joe Giglio represented Mr Zammit while lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Vassallo, Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili appeared for Mr Calleja.