Drug dealer jailed, fined for 2006 bust

42-year-old Cospicua resident Vincent Spalding had been arrested in Zabbar in April 2006 after soldiers manning a roadblock spotted him throwing objects out of a car window

A drug dealer, who had redefined the meaning of the name Kinder Surprise after he was detained at an AFM roadblock with a Kinder chocolate egg stuffed with drugs in 2006, has been sent to prison for a year.

42-year-old Cospicua resident Vincent Spalding had been arrested in Zabbar in April 2006 after soldiers manning a roadblock spotted him throwing objects out of the passenger window of the car in which he was traveling.

The egg was one of the items recovered by the soldiers. 

The AFM personnel found the egg to contain 14 sachets of a substance suspected to be heroin while an amount of cannabis was also found on his person. 

Court experts testified that there was 0.32 grams of cannabis and 0.77 grams of heroin.

Spalding had told the police that he had split the heroin into sachets to keep track of his consumption, but this explanation did not wash with the court.

In her sentence, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras described the possession of 14 sachets as significant in itself, more so when discovered in transit and not at home. Crucial to the conviction was the degree of precision with which the drugs had been divided into the individual bags.

No weighing scales had been found when police had searched his home, a fact which the court took to indicate his experience in dividing heroin doses.

Additionally, the court said it was odd that Spalding, who had said his drug habit went back nine years, would spend over half his weekly income – in the form of social benefits - to finance his drug addiction and had no other source of income. 

Taking into account all these circumstances, the court was convinced that the drugs were not exclusively meant for his personal use.

In awarding punishment to the accused, the court also took into account the fact that the case had been filed in 2006 and had not been concluded for reasons mostly attributable to the accused.

Spalding was sentenced to 12 months' incarceration and fined €700 for heroin possession and €50 for cannabis possession. The accused was held liable for costs, amounting to €523.

Police Inspector Nezren Grixti led the prosecution.