Cospicua man admits to ecstasy trafficking

Minimum punishment awarded in view of first time offender status

A young man from Cospicua has been jailed for six months and fined €1,500 after he admitted to trafficking ecstasy.

Biern Farrugia, 25, was arrested in Paceville on 1 January, 2008, and found to be in possession of four ecstasy pills together with €335 in cash. He admitted to having sold a further six pills that same night.

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia heard Inspector Pierre Grech explain how the man, who was 18 at the time of his arrest, had told the police that it was his first time selling drugs, although he said he had been taking ecstasy for the past three years.

 The magistrate, noting that Farrugia had no criminal record and that the amount of drugs trafficked was minimal, handed down a six-month sentence - the legal minimum for drug trafficking offences - together with the fine.