Man accused of drug trafficking tells court that he lives in a garage

A court has been told that a man arrested by the Drugs Squad in St Julian’s on Sunday lives out of a garage.

Adrian Zammit, 22, from San Gwann, appeared in the dock before magistrate Doreen Clarke this morning, charged with possession of cocaine and aggravated possession of cannabis.

Zammit was arrested during the weekend at the end of a police surveillance operation and found to be in possession of 250 grammes of what is suspected to be cannabis and cocaine, which were ready for trafficking.

A digital scale, a number of plastic sachets and €600 in cash, among other things, were also found in his possession, police said in a statement issued after the man’s arrest.

Inspector Gabriel Micallef charged Zammit with aggravated possession of cannabis and possession of cocaine, as well as with driving a car without insurance cover or a road licence, driving with false plates and committing an offence during the period of a suspended prison sentence.

Zammit’s defence counsel, lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia, entered a plea of not guilty to the charges and requested bail.

Inspector Micallef did not object to the request for bail but expressed some concern at the fact that the accused, by his own admission, resided in a garage. Even the charges list the San Gwann garage as the man's address, he said.

Debono argued that this was no reason to refuse bail. “This is his residence...that’s where he lives. There are no civilian witnesses who can be suborned.”

The court upheld the request for bail, releasing the man from custody against a deposit of €2,000 and a personal guarantee of €10,000 as security.

It ordered that the acts of the case be assigned to a magistrate according to law.