Drug trafficker handed 13 year sentence, €30,000 fine after jury returns guilty verdict

A jury has declared Ikechukwu Stephen Egbo guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.

Nigerian-born Egbo, 39, of San Gwann, was found guilty by 7 votes to 2 of conspiring to import cocaine. Egbo had planned to pick up Attila Somiyai, a drug mule carrying cocaine to Malta from the Netherlands in November 2010, upon Somiyai's arrival on a flight from Dusseldorf and take delivery of the drugs.

Egbo had been arrested during a controlled delivery operation outside the Roma Hotel in St. Julian's after the authorities had successfully intercepted Somiyai. The latter was found to have ingested 60 capsules of cocaine, containing over half a kilogramme of the drug with a street value of over €44,000. Somiyai was jailed for 9 years in 2014 for his part in the operation.

The jury returned its verdict after 6 hours of deliberation. After hearing submissions on the punishment, Judge Edwina Grima sentenced the man to imprisonment for 13 years together with a fine of €30,000.

Lawyer Giannella Busuttil prosecuted on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General. Lawyers Simon Micallef Stafrace and Marc Sant were defence counsel.