A drug dealer who sold 85 pills of the 150 he had bought in 2004 was yesterday jailed for a year and fined €1,000, a reduced jail term because he helped the police arrest his supplier.

Edmond Grima, 25, of Birżebbuġa, had been caught red-handed selling ecstasy pills in September 2004.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Marseann Farrugia, heard Mr Grima plead guilty to the charges brought against him but he did not qualify for a reduction in his prison term because he did not plead guilty in the first hearing.

In her judgment, Magistrate Farrugia noted how he could, however, qualify from a reduction in his prison term – which should have technically been four years’ imprisonment – because he had helped the police arrest his supplier.

Magistrate Farrugia said that although now Mr Grima had started afresh and was following a residential drug rehabilitation programme, the court could not ignore the “very serious” drug trafficking charge and he had to pay for what he had done. She, therefore, jailed him for a year and fined him €1,000.