Two would-be cocaine smugglers arraigned in court

A Safi man and a Nigerian woman have appeared before a court charged with organising the importation of 3 kg of cocaine.

35 year old mechanic Christopher Polidano,  who appeared in court sporting an unexplained black eye, had been charged with associating with other persons for the purpose of trafficking cocaine.

The “other person” in this case was Nigerian woman Racheal Fred who had been arrested on her arrival from Pozzallo. She had cooperated with police and a controlled delivery was set up, resulting in the arrest of the accused.

The accused was Defence lawyer Franco Debono lambasted the prosecution for arraigning the accused under an inexistent provision of the law, demanding that proceedings be declared null and his client be released immediately.

Cocaine falls under the remit of  the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, not the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance, which deal with synthetic drugs, explained Debono. He protested to the magistrate that he had been campaigning for the two laws be amalgamated for a long time to no avail. Debono pointed out that the charges were very serious, punishable with a maximum facing a life and deserved to be treated with the requisite caution.

Inspector Gabriel Micallef, prosecuting, asked for the case to be postponed, a request strongly opposed by Debono  who argued that if the charges are null and void, the case should be dropped and the accused released with immediate effect.

“The order of the Attorney General which refers to art 120A(2) of the Medical and Kindred Professions Act, is not the law which regulates the activities involving the substance specified in the charges and therefore the order is not valid according to law”. The Medical and Kindred Professions Act deals with synthetic drugs, while the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance deals with naturally occurring intoxicants, such as cannabis and heroin.

Magistrate Marse-Anne Farrguia agreed that the article quoted did not appear to exist in the law but granted the prosecution a five minute opportunity to consult with the Attorney General. The inspector returned some 30 minutes later, evidently having obtained corrected charges from his office. He told the court that the mistake was his fault.

The magistrate issued a freezing order over all the accused’s assets, at the request of the prosecution,  which also objected to bail on the grounds of the accused’s previous convictions for drug possession.

The court released the Polidano on bail against a deposit of €10000 and a personal guarantee of €20000.
Fred, assisted by lawyer Allessandro Lia, pleaded not guilty and did not request bail.