A 30-year-old man was today jailed for 14 months after he admitted to trafficking cocaine in Paceville.

Abdisalan Mahamed Afrah, from Somalia, was arrested on June 26 after police on patrol noted him behaving suspiciously.

Prosecuting officer Frank Anthony Tabone had told Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera that a subsequent search of the accused yielded three sachets of a substance suspected to be cocaine.

The accused admitted he had been planning to sell the three 0.5 grams sachets for €50 each.

He pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and possessing the drug in amounts denoting it was not for personal use. His crime was aggravated by the fact that he was less than 100 metres away from a place frequented by youths. He was also charged with relapsing.

The accused had just been released from prison when he was arrested. He served three years for stealing a handbag. The court observed that the accused had been convicted of several thefts over a two-year period and that his stint in prison had apparently not taught him anything.

Taking into consideration his early guilty plea and the minuscule amount of drugs, the court sentenced him to 14 months imprisonment and fined him €300.