Mark Anthony Vassallo, a 25-year old bar owner, has been granted bail by a court, just over a fortnight after his arrest over a 3-kilo cannabis cache found in his bedroom in Qawra.

Mr Vassallo was given away by a tell-tale envelope mailed to his home address.

He was arraigned on May 1 and pleaded not guilty to the possession of drugs in circumstances which indicated that these were not for his
personal use.

Members of the Drugs Squad during a search had been handed over by the
suspect himself three one-kilo bags of cannabis resin and some 92 self-seal sachets stowed away in his bedroom.

Police had also come across some €6,000 in cash, 14 pieces of cannabis resin and other drug paraphernalia.

When the compilation of evidence continued on Tuesday, defence lawyer Franco Debono requested bail, highlighting his client’s almost perfectly clean criminal record, the fact that investigations had reached an advanced stage as well as the fact that there were no civilian witnesses to testify.

Moreover, the accused had cooperated fully with investigators, the defence lawyer concluded.

Bail was granted against a deposit of €7,000, a personal
guarantee of €25,000 and an obligation to sign the bail book daily.

Inspector Frank Anthony Tabone prosecuted.
Lawyer Mario Mifsud also assisted as defence counsel.  

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.