Nine months' jail for 3g cannabis deal

Noor Ali Muse, 28 of Somalia but residing in Gzira was jailed for nine months after being found guilty of attempting to sell three grams of cannabis.

On 10 October last year, the police received information that drugs were being trafficked in a public garden in Gzira.

Upon reaching the gardens, the police apprehended five Dutch nationals and two Somalis. Officers also found a plastic bag containing three grams of cannabis in a tree. The Dutch told the police that the Somalis had offered them cannabis but the accused and his friend denied this.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras ruled that the evidence given by the Dutch persons was more reliable than that of the Somalis.

The court also expressed doubts as to whether the accused truly did not understand English. "Irrelevant of what could have happened before and after, the fact that Muse offered drugs to the other youths, makes him guilty of trafficking," the court said.

Noor Ali Muse, was handed a nine month jail term and fined €700.

Inspector Dennis Theuma prosecuted.