A magistrate criticised the Customs' Department for its "intransigent and inefficient" attitude that led to a case, that could have been decided today, to drag on for years.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale said he had everything ready to decide on the case of Jamal Saleh Sabai, 43, who last week admitted to failing to declare the importation of tobacco on a Libyan ship arriving from Tripoli on January 8.

The captain of MV Shada had failed to declare that he was importing some 10,000 cigarettes and about 170 kilograms of shisha tobacco.

Magistrate Depasquale noted that, in a previous court sitting, the prosecution, together with Customs' representatives, agreed that an independent expert would provide an estimate of the MV Shada that was seized so that the court could give a final judgment today - a week after the arraignment.

But Customs had raised objections and did not abide by this agreement which meant the case would drag on for up to three years, he said.

A Customs' representative Joseph Borg said there was a procedure that had to be followed once a ship was seized. This was not intended to delay proceedings.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi noted that Customs had gone ahead and evaluated the vessel at €300,000 and insisted on following its draconian procedures - that did not allow the owner of the ship (who was not the accused) to contest this evaluation in breach of legal rights.

In light of this situation, the defence had no choice but to withdraw the guilty plea and contest the issue in the civil and constitutional courts.

Dr Azzopardi said the "moral shortcoming" of the department was that it did not do anything to update the draconian procedures to amend them to be in line with today's realities and to safeguard human rights.

Magistrate Depasquale stressed that the delay was not brought about by the court that had no choice but to refer the case to the court registrar so that it could be referred to the competent court.