Cigarette smugglers jailed, fined €6.6 million each after stealing container from Freeport

Four Malta Freeport workers have been sentenced to jail and slapped with a major €6.6 million fine, each, for defrauding the government out of over €2 million in duty and taxes, in a massive cigarette smuggling operation that was broken up in 2015.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech sentenced Christopher Calleja, a 69-year-old security officer from Valletta, to four-year jail sentence, while haulier Malcolm Zammit, a 44-year-old from Qormi, was sentenced to three years in jail.

In separate proceedings, customs officer Sebastian Zammit, 73, from Safi and Malta Freeport employee Roderick Borg from Qormi, were jailed for three years and two years respectively and also fined €6.6 million.

In addition to the hefty fines, they were ordered to pay €1,123 in court costs and the trailer was confiscated.

The case was about a stolen container filled with over 10 million cigarettes, which was emptied and then returned to its place at the freeport, still bearing the Customs Department security seals.

An investigation was launched after the container was taken out of the Freeport on July 24, 2015, only to be returned to its original location 90 minutes later.

The men were charged with stealing the container, and the 1,050 cases, each carrying 10,000 cigarettes it held, from the Freeport. The stolen merchandise was worth €304,500.

The accused are said to have deprived the government of €1.66 million in excise duty, €175,000 in importation duty, and €386,000 in Value Added Tax, totalling €2.23 million

Inspectors Rennie Stivala and Carlos Cordina prosecuted.