A former Maltese footballer accused of drug trafficking was released from a Tunisian jail earlier this week after being granted a Presidential pardon.

Tano Farrugia, 32, who used to play for the club Msida St Joseph, was arrested by Tunisian police in January 2010 on suspicion of trying to export 50kg of cannabis to Malta.

The Maltese and Tunisian secret services had cooperated on the operation that led to his arrest.

Mr Farrugia, who denied the charge, had been in jail ever since. But he was among 312 prisoners released when Tunisian caretaker President Moncef Marzouki issued a pardon on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of his country’s revolution, which was the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring.

Sources said Mr Farrugia arrived in Malta two days ago.

In another drug bust at the same time as Mr Farrugia was held, another two Maltese were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle nearly 70 kg of cannabis out of Tunisia to Malta.

The revolution, however, also came to the rescue of Thomas Camilleri and Glenn Paul Xuereb, both 22, albeit in a different way: they escaped from jail in the upheaval in 2011, crossed the border to Libya and made it back to Malta on an evacuation flight.

They were both arrested on their arrival.

President Marzouki also reduced the sentences of 1383 other prisoners.

The pardoning of prisoners on major holidays is a tradition in Tunisia.