A Hungarian who arrived in Malta with a suitcase full of khat leaves has been acquitted after a magistrate ruled that although he imported the leaves, he had no intention of importing the active ingredient that could be extracted from it.

Geza Attila Balla, 26, flew in on January 29. Before retrieving his bag at the airport he approached Senior Customs Assistant Saviour Buhagiar and informed him that he needed help, the court heard.

Mr Balla told him that he had imported khat leaves and they were in his luggage. He said the person to whom he was meant to give the leaves was waiting outside.

The plant, Catha edulis, has been chewed by east Africans for hundreds of years and plays a big part in the social lives of both men and women. But it is banned across America, Canada and most of Europe, although it is legal in Britain.

Two stimulant chemicals, cathinone and cathine, can be extracted from the leaves but a laboratory is needed and the process is arduous. These chemicals are illegal in Malta but the leaves are not.

Forensic analysis revealed that only 22 grammes of cathine could be extracted from the amount imported by the accused.

In a statement to the police, Mr Balla said he had read that khat contained the substance cathine and knew that when someone chewed the plants he also ingested the cathine, which would produce a stimulant effect. As to cathinone, the defendant said he had never heard the word used before.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano quoted a judgment of the Criminal Court of Appeal which had acquitted a man, Khayre Aweys, because there was no evidence that he had imported the khat because of the cathinone and cathine.

The magistrate noted that in that judgment, the court distinguished between the intention to import khat and the intention to import any of the substances which form the chemical basis of the plant.

He said the main argument of the prosecution was that once Mr Balla was aware of one of the chemical elements, then he had the intention to import the prohibited substance.

"There is a great difference between being aware of the substances forming a particular plant and intending to import the underlying substance," the magistrate said.

He added that he found absolutely no shred of evidence that the accused intended to import cathine or cathinone. What Mr Balla was concerned about was the leaves and he never even mentioned the technical words to the customs assistant.

Mr Balla was under the impression that khat was a controlled drug in Malta. However, this impression was wrong.

Acquitting the accused, Magistrate Quintano said the "knowledge of an underlying chemical substance is not equivalent to an intention to import that underlying substance".

The magistrate also noted that the prosecution had gone out of its way to present the evidence in court as quickly as possible even at very short notice.

"This happened even though both the experts and the drug squad are already overstretched as they have other cases to follow. Both the prosecutor and the defence did their best to be punctual for all the court sittings."

The court said it wanted to show its appreciation for the courteous way in which both the prosecution and the defence conducted themselves throughout the proceedings, although the arguments were far from easy ones.

"Since the accused was short of funds and could not pay for a room in a hotel or apartment, the only way out was to expedite the proceedings by appointing the case for no fewer than seven sittings in four weeks".

Police Inspector Dennis Theuma prosecuted.