American arrested at Malta airport for carrying handgun, claims he received 'death threats'

A man was banned from holding a weapons licence for five years after he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in public in 'a moment of paranoia'

The accused had been arrested at the airport departures lounge, after he was found to be carrying a Glock 17 (File photo)
The accused had been arrested at the airport departures lounge, after he was found to be carrying a Glock 17 (File photo)

An American man who was arrested yesterday at an airport check-in desk, carrying a handgun had received death threats, a court has been told.

Inspector Silvio Magro told magistrate Doreen Clarke that 41-year-old Gabriel Craig Murphy, from the US state of Florida, had been arrested yesterday afternoon at the airport departures lounge, after he was found to be carrying a Glock 17 and an undisclosed amount of ammunition.

The accused, who told the court that he was a technology entrepreneur, had only recently arrived in Malta.

Murphy pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in public, importing or exporting a firearm without the necessary licence and failing to declare the firearm to the Commissioner of Police.

Lawyer Joseph Pace explained that the accused had been in Malta to contest pending civil lawsuits. 

He had received death threats, the lawyer said. “It was a moment of paranoia.”

Inspector Magro told the court that Murphy had collaborated with police. “This should send the message that the airport is secure,” quipped the inspector.

The court, having considered the facts of the case, found the defendant guilty and handed him a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, together with a fine of €400. The court also suspended Murphy from holding a weapons licence for five years and ordered the seizure of the firearm and ammunition.

Murphy thanked the magistrate and apologised “for this whole inconvenience.”