The owner of a speedboat which was allegedly to be used to transport drugs from Sicily to Malta in 2002 has been acquitted of conspiracy.
The plot allegedly involved 19 people and was coordinated by four prisoners at Corradino.
Daniel Victor Bonnici, 41, from Burmarrad, was accused of having conspired with the other members of the gang to import considerable amounts of cocaine and cannabis from Holland to Malta through Sicily. He was found not guilty on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Investigations had started with an anonymous tip-off to the police 2001, which put investigators on the scent of the drug-trafficking plot, allegedly coordinated by a number of Corradino inmates assisted by their close acquaintances on the outside.
An operation by the drugs squad and its Italian counterpart had revealed the planned transport of some two kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of heroin and some 2,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Sicily and then Malta.
The drugs never reached the local market since the plot was thwarted by the timely intervention of Italian officers who stopped two Maltese men who had been about to take delivery of the illicit consignment in Catania.
Nineteen men and women who allegedly played different roles in the conspiracy were arraigned on November 1, 2002, including Mr Bonnici, the owner of a 27-foot Chaudron speed boat destined to ferry the illegal cargo from Sicily to Malta.
The prosecution alleged that Mr Bonnici had agreed to undertake the trip on May 18, 2002 when the drugs were to be collected from a pre-arranged spot along the Sicilian coast in the Ragusa area for drop-off near Gozo.
He was to receive a payment of Lm8,000 (€18,400), the prosecution alleged.
Yet, after 28 hearings and 4,000 pages of documents and evidence, the court held that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a conviction.
Magistrate Francesco Depasquale observed that the statement to the police by Mr Bonnici in August 2002 was given without the assistance of a lawyer, and it therefore could not be brought as evidence against the accused.
As for telephone intercepts, carried out after the police obtained a warrant, these failed to prove any criminal activity on the part of the accused.
Finally, the court pointed out that the prosecution had never proved that the speedboat confiscated by the police did actually belong to the accused and no proof of ownership was ever tendered.
On the basis of all such considerations and evidence put forward, the court pronounced an acquittal.
Earlier this month, eight other members of this same alleged conspiracy had also been acquitted on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Lawyer Giannella DeMarco was defence counsel.