A snack bar owner is the latest suspect to be arraigned over Malta’s largest cannabis haul, worth €1.5 million and weighing half a ton.

Joseph Grech, 45, from Marsa, whose outlet is located at Tal-Ħandaq in Qormi, pleaded not guilty to trafficking and aggravated possession of the drug.

Despite a plea for bail by defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona remanded him in custody and ordered that his assets be frozen.

Six people have already been charged in connection with the record drug find on September 8, 2009.

A British couple – Sheri Anne Steedman, 40, who declared in court she was a charity worker, and her boyfriend, Jason Lee Holland, 41, a builder – were jailed after admitting to dealing in less than a kilo of the drug.

Mr Holland was jailed for 42 months and fined €4,680 and Ms Steedman got 35 months and was fined €4,680.

Criminal proceedings are still pending against Serbians Jovica Kolakovic, 54, and Tomas Mikalauskas, 30, who are pleading not guilty to trafficking 15 kilograms of cannabis.

A 31-year-old gardener, Kevin Sammut, is charged with conspiring to traffic 430 kilos of the drug.

Commonwealth champion boxer Scott Dixon, 36, was also charged in connection with the case. He was extradited from the UK on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant.

The court heard that Mr Sammut had led police officers to a field in Victoria Gardens, St Julian’s, where, in a hole, they found 28 sacks containing about 430 kilograms of cannabis leaves and blocks of cannabis resin.

At the Madliena villa where Mr Sammut worked, they also found boxes full of cannabis leaves hidden behind a false wall.

The case continues.