A self-confessed drug mule was allegedly promised €500 for transporting the drug, a court heard today.

Ivan John Xuereb, was the target of a long police surveillance operation which came to an end a few days ago in St Paul's Bay.

Inspector Kevin Pulis, chief investigator, explained in court how on January 20 at around 4.15pm, officers from the Drug Squad were tracking a Ford Fiesta driven by a third party. 

The vehicle was stopped in Triq il-Ħalel and its occupants were frisk-searched on the spot, the inspector recounted. Inside the accused's right-hand jacket pocket there was a black plastic bag containing capsules filled with white powder, suspected to be cocaine.

A similar capsule and a tissue bearing traces of white powder were found inside the jeans pocket of the accused. A search on the driver of the vehicle yielded no similar results, the court was told.

The two men were accompanied to the Qawra police station where they were strip-searched. Further searches were carried out in the personal residences of the men.

The court heard the accused had fully cooperated from the very outset, even leading the investigators to an unlicensed firearm which he kept at home, together with a box of bullets. There were some 49 bullets in all, some placed inside the weapon's magazine.

There were some 49 bullets in all, some placed inside the weapon's magazine

Under police interrogation the following day, the accused admitted he had a serious drug addiction and had undertaken to act as a drug courier just for the sake of earning some money. He had allegedly been promised €500 for transporting the drug, the prosecution explained.

The accused had allegedly received the package and had just slipped it into his pocket without checking its contents, the inspector said.

Questioned by the defence, the prosecution declared that so far it had no evidence the accused was the master-mind behind a drug racket but was a self-confessed drug mule who had cooperated fully with the police.

The driver who was accompanying the accused at the time of the arrest and who is currently on police bail, refused to testify in court after insisting with the investigators he never knew what was inside his friend's pockets.

The court, presided by magistrate Neville Camilleri, after hearing submissions on bail declared that it would decide upon the matter in chambers.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Antonio Depasquale were defence counsel.