A man who three years ago had made the crossing from Sicily to Malta on board the catamaran carrying almost 1.5 kilos of cannabis grass in his luggage, was handed a seven-year jail term and a €23,000 fine by the Criminal Court on Thursday.

Kenny Johnson, a 33-year old Nigerian tile layer with an Italian identity card,  pleaded guilty instead of undergoing a trial by jury.

He was arrested shortly after making the trip from Pozzallo on November 26, 2014 when officers from the Drug Squad became suspicious of  "something peculiar" in one of the side compartments of his luggage.

A search had yielded six large packets of a suspicious substance, sealed in cling film, stacked inside a hidden compartment under the false bottom of the man’s suitcase.

A forensic scientist had later confirmed that the substance was  cannabis grass, weighing around 1.3kg of about 7.5% purity and having at the time a market value of €34,075.

The Criminal Court, presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, sentenced him to a jail term of seven years and a fine of €23,000. The man was ordered to pay €4619 by way of court expert expenses.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of all property, both moveable and immovable, of the accused in favour of the Government of Malta, as well as the destruction of the drugs.