A Turkish drug courier, who is currently serving time in Malta, yesterday told jurors how she had been naive when she agreed to deliver heroin to a Maltese man.
"I was stupid enough to do this. They told me I would get $1,500 (€1,015.43), but I only got $1,300 (€880.37).
"I ruined everything for so little money and I still have five years to serve in prison," Kandemir Meryem Nilgun said.
Ms Nilgun was testifying before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, at the beginning of the trial by jury of Mario Borg, 32, of Bugibba who is pleading not guilty to importing 816.06 grammes of heroin, conspiring to import the drug and its possession in circumstances which denoted it was not for his personal use between February and April 2003.
Ms Nilgun said she first came to Malta in March 2003 to deliver some packages.
"I never saw what the things were. I was swallowing, I didn't ask. All I knew was that it was illegal. In Turkey, I remember swallowing more than 30 capsules. I was with my friend Malek who also swallowed capsules," she said.
A day after they arrived on the island, she left the hotel and: "Just outside the hotel someone called me, said "Hello" and gave me some tablets to make me pass what I had swallowed.
"I passed all the capsules and Malek left the room with them and returned without them.
"On returning to Turkey we were told to come back to Malta and do the same thing again," she explained.
Answering questions by Mr Justice Galea Debono, Ms Nilgun added: "I harmed myself and my family. We both refused to come again but, because of all the pressure, we had to.
"Since my friend had thrown up some of the capsules on the plane, we were both pressured to make up for the capsules lost, and told to go to Malta again."
Police Inspector Nezren Grixti said he had received information that two women who were staying at the St George's Park complex in St Julians had drugs packed and ready to be picked up by Mr Borg.
On leaving the hotel to deliver the drugs, one of the woman was stopped and searched by the police, he said.
In a plastic bag she was carrying, the police found 88 capsules of heroin that weighed under one kilogramme.
When the police searched the hotel room, both women admitted to importing the drug on behalf of Mr Borg.
They said they had already visited the island in March when they brought the first consignment with them.
The two women were X-rayed and one had drug capsules in her stomach.
It resulted from police investigations that the women would swallow the capsules and hide them in their private parts, he said.
The two women told him they would receive instructions from a woman called Miriam in Turkey to give the drugs to a certain man in Malta.
In a police line-up, the two women identified Mr Borg as the man that they had to meet.
In a police search of Mr Borg's home in Bugibba, investigators found three mobile phones and a piece of paper with the names of the two women.
The case continues this morning.
Lawyers Roberto Montalto and José Herrera are appearing for Mr Borg.
Anthony Barbara, head of the prosecution unit of the Attorney General's office is prosecuting.