Suspected drug trafficker who led police on car chase, granted bail

A man who led police on a destructive car chase earlier this week has been granted bail three days after his arrest.

Josef Zammit, known as il-Marozz, had been under covert observation by the Drugs Squad for some time when officers, executing an arrest warrant, moved to arrest him on Monday.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard a police sergeant testify how Zammit had been observed leaving his residence and driving towards Bormla when the plainclothes officers had tried to stop him. He drove on, later going the wrong way up a one-way street when the police had closed off the road he was on.

Sources say he ended up crashing into a police car and hitting other vehicles before crashing into a roundabout and suffering a puncture.

Three mobile phones and €1,370 in cash were found on his person at the time of his arrest, the witness said. The court heard how his father, Mario Brignone, had also been spotted and arrested leaving the house via a side street with €12,000 in cash and coins on the day of Zammit’s arrest.

The accused's lawyers, Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Francesca Zarb, said the man was ready to pay for the damage he had caused.

With the evidence having been preserved, the court granted him bail against a deposit of €4,000 and a personal guarantee of €4,000. He was also ordered to sign a bail book daily and observe a curfew.

Inspector Mark Mercieca is prosecuting.

Zammit is facing separate charges over drug trafficking when he was arrested last year by police.

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