A jury this evening returned guilty verdicts against two men accused of helping migrants escape from Malta.

Hotel owner Phillip Azzopardi, 67, of Birkirkara and company director Joseph Vella, 54, of Victoria, were accused of trafficking illegal immigrants and harbouring them, assisting in their escape.

Mr Vella was taken ill as the verdict was being read out and was given medical assistance in court before being taken to hospital in an ambulance. Submissions on punishment are due to be made on Tuesday.

The prosecution has said that on August 8, 2003, the police caught 14 illegal immigrants, six of whom had escaped from police headquarters together with another 49 three weeks earlier. They were arrested on the Baħar iċ-Ċaħaq sea shore. During questioning, the immigrants told the police they had been hiding at the Xemxija Bay Hotel. Police searched the hotel where they found another two of the escaped immigrants.

Eight of the immigrants told police about their escape. They said that once they left headquarters they met a man called David near the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana.

David called Mr Azzopardi from a nearby phone booth and soon after Mr Azzopardi arrived in a car and drove the immigrants away in several trips. Four men said Mr Azzopardi took them to the Xemxija Bay Hotel, three men said he took them to a garage and another man said he took him to a house.

The four men who were taken to the hotel said that some time later Mr Azzopardi picked them up and took them to a guest house in Gozo.

Then, on August 8, they were picked up by a van belonging to another man, Francis Xerri, Mr Vella’s friend, and driven to a boat where a man and a woman were waiting.

They went to Malta where another van was waiting for them. Along the way they stopped a couple of times to pick up more immigrants, then Mr Azzopardi collected money from those who had not yet paid up. Some said they paid $150, some $900, some $1,050 and others Lm300 by transferring money from a bank account in Germany into Mr Azzopardi’s bank account. One Turkish man said he had paid Mr Azzopardi $800, the officer said.

The couple and Mr Azzopardi eventually left and the immigrants were caught by the police at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

On August 10, the police searched the Marsalforn Guest House and arrested Mr Vella who denied involvement. Mr Azzopardi turned himself in after hearing that the police were looking for him.

Mr Xerri was also arrested but was found not guilty in a separate case.