A former soldier cleared of drug trafficking charges yesterday filed a complaint that his cabin cruiser was badly damaged while it was impounded.

Former gunner Anthony Portelli was given a two-year jail term suspended for four years in 2006 and fined €4,660 for trafficking in 90 ecstasy pills.

The prosecution had claimed that he took the pills to Gozo on his boat with the intention of selling them during the Santa Maria celebrations.

However, he was cleared on appeal in December of that year because the charges made against him were listed under the wrong legal drug schedule.

During proceedings the boat had been impounded at the police compound in St Andrew's and he got it back after he was acquitted.

However, he yesterday filed a judicial protest claiming that the boat had been kept in a bad state and was extensively damaged when it was returned to him.

The boat cost a lot of money to restore to its original state and he is now holding the Commissioner of Police, the registrar of both the Gozitan and Maltese courts and the tribunals in both courts responsible for the damages.

Lawyers Andy Ellul and Vincent Micallef signed the protest.

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