A young woman who bought a bottle of vodka called Cannabis White Widow from an airport duty-free shop while travelling to Malta has been fined €465 and ordered to pay court fees for breaching the drug laws.

The court acknowledged, however, that the woman had made a genuine mistake in that she was misled by the fact that the bottle was being sold at an airport and she did not know she was breaking the law.

The accused bought the vodka on December 8, 2013 when travelling through Prague airport. She arrived in Malta from Frankfurt on a connecting flight and her bottle was seized by police on arrival.

The woman produced receipts in court to show she had bought the bottle and other items from Prague airport and insisted she did not know she was doing anything illegal.

Rather than real cannabis, she thought the vodka would be just cannabis flavoured.  Once cannabis was illegal in the Czech Republic, she did not think that a product really featuring cannabis would be sold at its airport.  

However, the court observed that in an earlier statement to police, the woman admitted that the bottle had contained a small piece of cannabis plant. She still assumed she was doing nothing illegal however since the product was being sold openly at an airport. 

The bottle label did feature an image of the cannabis plant and experts testified that it contained the prohibited substance Tetrahydrocannabinol, the court observed.

In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said she had noted that the woman had cooperated with the police and had no criminal record.