A 30-year-old Libyan national was yesterday given a six-month jail term suspended for a year after pleading guilty to importing 24,000 steroid pills hidden in sealed tins that supposedly contained chick peas on Monday evening.
Mohamed Salem Saleh was intercepted by Customs officers as he was trying to pass through the Green channel at the airport carrying 24 tins containing 1,000 pills each in his luggage. He had just arrived from Tripoli.
The importation of the pink Anabol steroids, worth an estimated €7,044 (Lm3,023.98), is restricted and one would need a licence to do so.
Mr Saleh appeared before Magistrate Edwina Grima.
Police Inspector Maurice Curmi prosecuted.
Lawyer Beppe Fenech Adami appeared as legal aid for the defendant.