A judge presiding a drug trafficking trial today rejected a prosecution request to exhibit the authorisation given to the police for a controlled delivery by a boat in Xemxija six years ago.

The court also turned down a request from the defence to declare the police operation illegal, due to a number of shortcomings.

The decisions followed heated exchanges and frequent interruptions during the trial by jury of two men accused of trafficking 19.4 kilos of cannabis resin worth €125,000. If found guilty Godfrey Gambin, 40, from Iklin, and Adel Mohammed Babani, 51 could be jailed for life.

The two were arrested in June 2010 during the unloading of the drug consignment from a boat in Fekruna Bay.Also arrested was Nabeil Ibrahim Saleh, 44, who is believed to have absconded to Libya shortly after his release on bail.

The trial, which started last Monday, has been overshadowed by legal arguments over the legality of the controlled delivery, of which no mention had been made until the testimony of former Assistant Commissioner Neil Harrison two days ago.

Mr Babani's lawyer, Malcolm Mifsud  argued that from the testimony it was clear that there was no police presence on the boat.

He said that the police had only known that the drugs were going to arrive in Malta through an informer, but this did not constitute a controlled delivery as expressed in the law.

He also made the point that documents authorising a controlled delivery had been in the possession of the police from an early stage of the investigation but they had not been exhibited.

Consequently, the defence requested that any future prosecution witnesses be prohibited from referring to “this illegal operation.”

Lawyer Franco Debono, who together with lawyers Alfred Abela and Mario Mifsud is defence counsel to Mr Gambin, said the courts had previously condemned this practice in similar cases.

Dr Debono said that the late revelation of this controlled delivery fuelled suspicions on the legality of the entire operation.  He said that the rules made it clear that no new evidence could be exhibited at the jury stage.

Reacting to these arguments,prosecuting lawyer Giannella Camilleri Busuttil replied that this did not apply to this case as Mr Harrison had revealed this fact under cross-examination and not as part of his testimony.

She referred to cases where a witness had revealed a previously undeclared fact in answer to a question by the judge at a late stage.  The prosecution noted that in almost every jury, some new fact or other would come to light in such manner but this would not be deemed as new evidence.

At this point the prosecution expressed its willingness to exhibiting the documents in court to put the issue to rest even though by its own admission this was not the norm.

The trial was then suspended, and when proceedings resumed in the afternoon, the judge rejected the requests from both sides.

Lawyers Giannella Camilleri Busuttil and Nadia Attard from the Office of the Attorney General are prosecuting. Lawyers Alfred Abela, Franco Debono, Mario Mifsud are appearing for Mr Gambin, while lawyer Malcolm Mifsud is defending Mr Babani. The trial continues tomorrow.

 

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