A man has been jailed for three years and fined €5,000 after he was found guilty of conspiring to traffic cannabis and possession of cocaine and ecstasy pills.

Justin Zahra from Msida, who at the time was 20 years old, had been caught with a 17-year-old male when the police swooped on them after being informed of an ongoing drug deal at Savoy in Sliema.

The drug squad police stopped them in a black Peugeot 405 on September 9, 2007. Mr Zahra was found in possession of a block of cannabis as well as some cocaine and a single ecstasy pill.

A search at his house yielded no results but at the Sliema house of the underage man the police found an ecstasy pill in his bedside table.

Mr Zahra admitted being in possession of cannabis, which he said he had bought from a man in Qormi and intended to sell.

The agreement he had with the man was to pay him for the cannabis once he sold it on. In his statement to the police he had also admitted to attempting to sell cannabis on other occasions but these deals had fallen through as he had been accused of over-charging.

He said he had been smoking cannabis for four years and taking ecstasy for one year.

The court heard how the cannabis block had 247 grams of the drug, with a street value of some €1,500.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman expressed concern at the statement released by the 17-year-old during his interrogation, without consulting a lawyer or, at least, having an adult with him at the time.

For this reason, she disregarded his statement because of his vulnerability, being the first time he was ever arrested and interrogated.

Magistrate Hayman cleared the teenager of conspiracy to traffic drugs and conditionally discharged him for two years.

She jailed Mr Zahra for three years, given his police record and the amount of cannabis found.

Police Inspector Dennis Theuma prosecuted.