A Slovak man was this morning jailed 9 years and fined €25,000 after he admitted to trafficking heroin.
Vladimir Repan, 21, admitted to possessing, trafficking, importing and conspiring to traffic the drug instead of facing a trial by jury.
He was arrested in October 2011 after he was stopped at the airport by the Drugs Squad.
He had just landed in Malta on a flight from The Netherlands and had swallowed 81 capsules of heroin, amounting to some 800 grams.
However, a number of the capsules had already passed through his system and were found in plastic bag in a backpack he was carrying on the plane.
Police investigations revealed that before his arrival in Malta he had agreed with others to bring the drugs to Malta.