A former chef who used to buy cocaine every day from Jordan Azzopardi’s illegal underground operation told a court on Wednesday how he was once beaten up by the alleged drug kingpin and two of his henchmen.
Owen James Formosa, a confessed cocaine-addict currently also facing drug-related proceedings, took the witness stand on Wednesday in the compilation of evidence against Mr Azzopardi, who was arrested on March 13.
The witness stepped forward to confirm a statement released on March 9 to the police, two days after he was arrested during a raid on a house at Mountbatten Street, which he regularly visited to purchase his daily dose of cocaine, spending €30 to €40 each time.
Jordan Azzopardi.The man recalled how he would walk up to the first floor and then hand over his cash in exchange for the drug through a hole in a metal door.
The person who served him was generally “Ramires”, the 20-year old who was arraigned on Tuesday over drug-related charges.
Mr Formosa also recounted how one time Mr Azzopardi and two of his men had turned on him. One of the three had held him while Jordan Azzopardi and the other punched him, the witness explained, saying that his vision still suffered as a result of the beating.
The man said that he occasionally went to buy drugs from another place in Birkirkara, also targeted by a police raid. He mentioned the other drug outlets in Marsa and Gzira, adding that he had “heard people saying that these belonged to Jordan.”
An officer from the police's anti-drugs squad told the court how he had found similar set-ups when searching locations in Marsa, Birkirkara, Gżira and Pieta’. They all had a metal door behind the front door, stone barricades and a black acid tank, besides cash strewn about the place.
€3,500 monthly rent
Reuben Vassallo, an architect from St Paul’s Bay and owner of the Ta’ Liberat farmhouse at San Martin, used by Mr Azzopardi as his residence, also took the witness stand explaining how the villa had been rented out in October on a one-year term.
The agreement had been signed with a woman named Kelly who was to pay the €3,500 monthly in advance, the court was told.
A couple of installments had not been paid since a dispute had arisen over a damaged jacuzzi, Mr Vassallo explained.
The witness recalled how his gardener had noted something suspicious while tending to some rubble walls at the villa, prompting the owner to inform the police.
The gardener concerned, Jason Camilleri, also testified as to how the police had searched the rubble wall which had first attracted his attention and aroused his suspicion. Inside that wall was a sock which was retrieved by the officers.
On another day, the police had searched a cave close to the villa. There, hidden behind the walls of a sauna, they had found a cash-filed packet.
Fresh charges
During Wednesday's hearing, the prosecution filed two fresh charges against Mr Azzopardi for possession of counterfeit money and unlicensed possession of a weapon for which relative duty had not been paid.
As the hearing neared its end, submissions for bail were made with respect to the female co-accused, a mother-of-five from Cospicua who works as a nail technician and whose name cannot be published under court order.
Lawyer Alfred Abela pointed out that the risk of tampering with evidence was non-existent given that only one civilian witness, currently behind bars, was still to testify.
Moreover, as a mother whose children lived in Malta and with a job here, the risk of absconding was unlikely, he argued.
However, the prosecution objected to bail on account of the gravity of the offences and the fact that investigations were still ongoing.
The court, presided over by magistrate Doreen Clarke, declared that it would decree upon the matter in chambers.
A similar request for bail on behalf of Mr Azzopardi is to be discussed at a later stage, the court was informed.
The case was adjourned to April 24.
Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela appeared as counsel to the defence. Inspectors Mark Anthony Mercieca and Justine Grech prosecuted.