Man arrested at airport after heroin find in luggage false compartment

A man returning to Malta on a flight from Brussels was arrested on Wednesday after a search of his luggage yielded 3kg of suspected heroin, with a street value of €600,000.

Police said that they acted on a tip-off that the 64-year-old Maltese man from Bormla would be arriving at Malta International Airport carrying illegal substances in his baggage.

police acted on a tip-off that the man, who travelled to Malta from Brussels, was carrying illegal substances

A sniffer dog from the Customs Department indicated something suspicious in the luggage and a manual search yielded a large packet filled with drugs that was stashed inside a false compartment.

The man is being held in lock-up at the police headquarters in Floriana and will be arraigned in court later this morning in front of Magistrate Nadine Lia.

Duty Magistrate Marsanne Farrugia is conducting an inquiry.