‘Cannabis by mail’ rumbled by Brexit: Customs busts British drugs imports

The police were called in by Customs officials after a package arriving from the United Kingdom was found to be containing substances suspected of being illegal drugs. 

Customs said that in the last weeks since Brexit legislation came into force, packages arriving from the UK have had to be subjected to a number of formalities including added checks and procedures. 

In the last nine weeks, police and customs have identified 10 packages containing narcotic substances or seeds. In some instances, more than one package was found in the same day.

The imported packages amount to around one kilo of drugs.

The illicit packages were headed to households in Birkirkara, Qormi, Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Ħamrun, Swieqi, Xlendi, Iklin, Imsida, and Sliema. 

Customs said that the package identified in the past days was picked up by a person of Maltese nationality. The person was arrested on the spot, and taken to the Floriana Headquarters for further questioning.

A number of busts were carried out by the customs section’s K9 unit. Sniffer dogs Żekkin, Stan and Peter were behind the catches.