A 30-year-old man from Somalia was taken to court today and charged with trafficking cocaine in Paceville last night.

Abdisalan Mahamed Afrah pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine, possessing cocaine in circumstances denoting that he intended to traffic the drug, aggravated by the fact that he was less than 100m away from a place frequented by youths and relapsing.

The accused caught the eye of the police after he was noticed behaving suspiciously. Prosecuting officer Frank Anthony Tabone told Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera that a subsequent search of the accused yielded three sachets of a substance which was suspected to be cocaine.

The accused admitted to the police that he had been planning to sell the three 0.5 grams sachets for €50 each for €150 in total.

Lawyer Leontine Calleja pointed out that the amounts found were very small and reminded the court of the accused's unfortunate personal circumstances.

The court announced that it will be delivering its judgment on July 5. The accused has been remanding in custody.