A man was acquitted of drug trafficking today in a court case which goes back 13 years.

Aaron Rodney Pavia was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence. The delay in the conclusion of the case was partially due to the destruction of documents in a fire in part of the law courts building in 2004.

Mr Pavia had been accused of associating himself with other persons to traffic cannabis and of breaching a condition imposed by an appeals court.

Mr Pavia had been arrested following a tip off, whereby he was seen meeting another unnamed man from St Julian's  under the Regional Road Bridge with the apparent intent of assisting him in a drug deal.

Following a search the other man was found in possession of a 250 gram cannabis block in his car, and another in his apartment.

The man had claimed that two cannabis blocks had been given to him and that the plan was to sell each block for €1,049. Mr Pavia was allegedly to receive €117 from each deal.

Mr Pavia consistently denied the claims saying that the St Julian’s man repeatedly phoned him to propose a deal but in actual fact never tabled any offer. However, during a search operation in Mr Pavia’s house some traces of cannabis were found in a metal case.

In its decision the court presided by Magistrate Ian Farrugia ruled that the prosecution had failed to produce enough evidence against Mr Pavia, apart from the testimony of the man from St Julian’s which was not corroborated by the accused. Consequently, he was acquitted.