A man charged with importing 21,000 ecstasy pills and half a kilogramme of cocaine was yesterday accused of trying to bribe his co-accused and three police officers.

Matthew Bajada, 28, of Sta Venera, who will face a trial by jury, offered money to Joseph Camilleri, 56, of Rabat, to change his testimony during the trial, according to the police.

He allegedly made the offer on March 26.

In 2009, both men were charged with importing the drugs hidden in panels of a car brought over from Tunisia by boat.

He was yesterday charged with also trying to bribe PC David Borg, PC Carlos Axisa and WPC Carmen Gauci when they went to search his garage.

They refused the offer and immediately reported the offer to their superiors, the prosecution is alleging.

He pleaded not guilty to trying to bribe Mr Camilleri and the officers and to illegally possessing a crossbow.

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia remanded him in custody.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.