Tile layer gets seven years, fined €23,000 over catamaran cannabis

A 33-year-old Nigerian man was apprehended at the Virtu Ferries terminal when police discovered 1.5 kilos of cannabis stashed in a false bottom of his suitcase

A 33-year-old Nigerian tile layer has been jailed for seven years and fined €23,000, after he admitted to importing 1.5 kilogrammes of cannabis to Malta in his suitcase, in 2014.

Johnson Kenny, a Nigerian national residing in Udine, Italy, was apprehended by drug squad personnel at the Virtu Ferries terminal shortly after arriving in Malta from Italy in November 2014.

Six large packets of cannabis grass were found in a hidden compartment in his luggage.

Kenny was arrested moments after he disembarked off a catamaran. Police subsequently discovered 1.5 kilos of cannabis stashed in a false bottom of his suitcase.

Although Kenny had initially pleaded not guilty to charges importing 1.5 kilogrammes of cannabis grass and to being in possession in circumstances that denoted it was not for his personal use, he later changed his plea.

Judge Edwina Grima, presiding the Criminal Court, observed Kenny’s guilty plea and sentenced him to seven years in jail, also fining him €23,000 and ordering him to pay €4,619.79 in costs.

All his moveable and immovable property was forfeited in favour of the Government, as it was a drug trafficking case. 

The court ordered that the drugs be destroyed.