A couple and a man were yesterday jailed for a total of 32 years and fined €80,000 for their involvement in a 10 kilogramme cannabis deal that was foiled by the police.

Joseph Zerafa was jailed for 14 years and fined €40,000 while his wife Ċensina was jailed for five years and fined €10,000 after they admitted to their involvement on Monday. They were sentenced yesterday evening following the trial by jury of another man, Charles Camilleri, who was found guilty by jurors and jailed for 13 years and fined €30,000.

Mr Zerafa pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in cannabis worth more than €58,250 in 2006, trafficking in the drug, committing the crime within 100 metres of a place frequented by minors, being in possession of cannabis and cocaine, violently resisting arrest and damaging a vehicle when he drove it dangerously in a bid to escape.

His wife admitted to being in possession of the drug, which was not for her exclusive use.

On Monday, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono heard Police Inspector Pierre Grech testify that, on May 3, 2006, he had received instructions to carry out surveillance in Marsaxlokk and to look out for two men in a white Suzuki Swift.

It was early evening when he followed the car and, at one point, the car, driven by Mr Zerafa and with Mr Camilleri as a passenger, stopped. However, when the officers tried to arrest them the car reversed at speed, turned around and drove away in a cloud of dust.

The car chase that ensued from Marsaxlokk to Marsascala was described by prosecutor Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General's Office, as a scene out of a Starsky and Hutch TV show.

When the two men were finally apprehended near the cinema in Marsascala, the police found 17 blocks of cannabis at the feet of Mr Camilleri who immediately told them the drugs did not belong to him.

Cash amounting to €377 was also found in the car, the officer told the court.

Mr Camilleri denied his involvement and said that when he initially got into the car with Mr Zerafa he did not know about the drugs.

Jurors did not believe him and with seven votes to two found him guilty of conspiring to traffic in the cannabis, trafficking in the drug and being in possession of the drug in circumstances denoting it was not for his exclusive use and within 100 meters of a place frequented by minors.

They also found him unanimously guilty of simple possession of cannabis.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Marion Camilleri appeared for Mr Zerafa.

Lawyers Gianella Caruana Curran and Joseph Giglio appeared for the couple.