Two jailed for 21 years for cocaine, ecstasy importation

56 year-old electrician Joseph Camilleri was jailed for 12 years and fined €20,000 after admitting to importing 21,375 ecstasy pills and more than half a kilogramme of cocaine three years ago.

Camilleri was caught with the drugs hidden inside false panels which were built into the sides of a Mercedes-Benz van which he drove from Rotterdam, and embarked on the freight ship 'Splendid' from Genoa to Tunis and Malta.

According to the prosecution, the drugs had a street value of €230,000

In another judgment, a Dominican Republic national was jailed for nine years, after admitting to having acted as a drug mule, importing almost a kilogramme of cocaine which was concealed in capsules inside his stomach.

37 year-old Richard Andrews Perez Oberght, who lives in Spain, had arrived in Malta in November 2009 together with his girlfriend Albania Mora Batista.

Oberght arrived in Malta with a flight from Brussels and were arrested in a drug squad sting at the Preluna Hotel in Sliema.

The man assumed responsibility for the drug, stating that he had to meet a man identified soley as 'Moreno' who had to pay him €4,000 for bringing the drugs to Malta.

The woman was cleared of having any knowledge of the drugs and was allowed to return home.