A barman charged with drug possession after police found cocaine in his jacket has been cleared of the charges after a court held that the charges were not sufficiently proven.

Dylan Agius, 28, had been serving drinks at a Floriana bar when he was arrested in February 2011 following a police raid.

Police had found nothing illegal on the staff and patrons' persons, but two sachets of cocaine were found strewn on one of the steps of a spiral staircase leading to a basement toilet used by the public, while 10 ecstasy pills and nine sachets of cocaine were found in a white jacket that was hanging off a chair at a table.

Some €600 in cash was found in the accused's car while several mobile phones were found in a subsequent raid at his place of residence.

Although the accused had admitted to being the owner of the jacket in question, this alone was insufficient to persuade the court that he had been aware of the drugs placed in the pockets.

The jacket had been found hanging off the back of a chair, around one of the tables in the establishment. Nobody had been sitting around the table at the time. The fact that the accused's jacket had been found in a place accessible to the public introduced an element of “lurking doubt” that necessarily ran in the accused's favour.

Similarly, no link between the accused and the drugs found in the stairway could be proven.

No other drug-related paraphernalia had been found in any of the police searches of the accused's home, vehicle or workplace. The mobile phones were not found to contain incriminating messages and fingerprints lifted off the drugs did not match the accused.

There was “absolutely nothing” in the evidence that linked them to the sale of drugs, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras held, clearing him of all the charges brought against him.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili defended the accused. Police Inspector Pierre Grech prosecuted.