Police bust organised crime drug ring

The police have arrested four people in connection with organised crime over alleged drug trafficking and money laundering.

The joint operation, which involved a number of sections within the Corps, was carried out after police received information that a drug deal was scheduled to take place.

Early on Tuesday, the police started observing a vehicle that was driven by a 40-year-old from Pieta.

Moments later, the police surrounded a vehicle in Triq Oscar Zammit, Imsida, and a search on the car yielded 102 capsules of a substance suspected of being cocaine. A knuckle-duster was also found.

The police’s search continued at a shop owned by the 40-year-old, in Triq Nicolò Isourd, Marsa, where 14 other capsules of cocaine were also found.

Around 1.2kg of cocaine, with a street value of €95,000 was seized.

A 21-year-old man was also arrested at the Marsa shop, after he was found in the possession of objects related to drug trafficking, and cannabis which was ready to be trafficked.

While arrests were being carried out in Msida, the police surrounded a residence in Triq id-Duluri, Pietà, where two men aged 29 and 56 were also arrested. A search yielded cocaine, a weighing scale, a pistol, ammunition and a number of mobiles.

€15,000 in cash, designer clothes and jewellery were seized from the property.

Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia is leading an inquiry.

The four men are being held at the Floriana lockup, as investigations by the police are still ongoing.