A drug smuggler has been jailed for 12 years and fined €20,000 after admitting importing cocaine and ecstasy worth some €260,000 three years ago.

Joseph Camilleri, 56, of Rabat, imported the drugs from Rotterdam in a Mercedes van that reached Malta from Genova via Tunis on January 26, 2009, on board a ship.

Police carried out surveillance on the port in Marsa and caught Mr Camilleri with another man, Matthew Bajada, 28, of Santa Venera, whose case is still pending.

In the van, 570 grams of cocaine and 21,375 ecstasy pills were found hidden behind two panels.

Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano jailed Mr Camilleri after taking into consideration the plea bargain agreement between the Attorney General and defence counsel.

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.