A foreign passenger who landed in hot water after two unlicensed weapons were discovered in his luggage by officials at the Malta International Airport has been given a suspended sentence.

Briton John Michael Doyle, 54, from Bristol, was on his way to board an outbound flight when an unlicensed Beretta shotgun and a .22 pistol were found in his possession.

Prosecuting Inspector Silvio Magro informed the court that the man had been attempting to export the weapons to the UK, albeit without knowing that a licence was necessary to do so.

“He was not aware of what the law stipulates. He was attempting to send the weapons to his brother who has a licence for them,” the Inspector explained.

Legal aid lawyer Noel Bartolo likewise explained that the man had no idea that he needed a permit to carry such weapons, stressing that his client had, in fact, declared the firearms and had not tried to hide them.

“This is a very unfortunate case because my client’s brother does have a license for these weapons. The firearms were simply going to be sent back to my client’s brother,” Dr Bartolo argued.

The prosecution added that the accused had cooperated fully and did not cause a breach of security.

“Had the brother himself been here to transfer the weapons, this problem would not have emerged. It’s a question of technicality,” Dr Bartolo argued.

The court, presided over by magistrate Neville Camilleri, upon the accused’s own admission condemned him to a seven-month jail term suspended for one year, observing that in spite of the accused’s early guilty plea and cooperation with the police, “ignorance of the law was no excuse”.

The court further ordered the confiscation of both weapons.