Updated: Adds evidence by the accused -

A Libyan man who stands accused of importing 1.5 kilos of heroin in 2007 had told the police that he did not know that the drug was hidden in his luggage.

Bedredeen Alghangha, 27, was arrested at the Airport in April 2007 after the drug was found hidden in a false compartment of his luggage when he flew in from Tunisia.

Former Police Inspector Nadia Lanzon said the man had told police investigators that before coming to Malta, he had been to Tunisia on hoiday and came to Malta to have a tatoo removed.

While in Tunisia he met a friend who persuaded him to swap his luggage, even though the Libyan man only did not reluctantly because his friend's luggage was too big. His friend did not come to Malta but told him that another man, Khaled, was to meet him at the airport and he could stay with him.

Giving evidence this afternoon, the accused insisted he was innocent and also said he tried three times to take his own life while in prison.

He said he tried to slit his own throat, and had even swallowed four blades.

Mr Alghangha said that before this case he was a student and also owned a hair salon and a perfumery in Libya. Before his arrest he had been in Malta about seven times. In April 2007 he came to Malta to remove the tattoo of an eagle on his left arm which he got done in Bugibba during one of his previous visits.

He went to Tunis by car, and met a man called Adil Wadi whom he had met in Malta before. Mr Wadi, who was also Libyan, invited him over to an apartment in Tunis with friends. One of the people there was a certain Jamal. Some time later Mr Wadi told him that something had cropped up for Jamal and he needed a small luggage. Mr Wadi asked him (Mr Alghangha) to swap his small luggage for a larger one belonging to Mr Wadi so that Jamal could use the small bag. Mr Alghangha agreed.

On arrival in Malta, he did not take any notice whether he passed from the red or green customs channel but when he saw the X-Ray machine he just lifted his luggage onto it as he usually did. Once it went through the machine, a customs official asked him to pass it through again. He was then taken into a room and officials drilled a small hole in his emptied luggage. Dust started pouring out of the luggage and officials asked him if it was drugs. He knew nothing about it but told them Khalid was waiting for him outside and they might want to speak to him.

The trial continues.

The drug was at the time estimated to have a street value of between €70,000 and €100,000.