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Video | Ambassador visits arrested Maltese national in Tunis jail
Ambassador to Tunisia has visited the Maltese national who has been arrested at Tunis airport as he was travelling back to Malta with a Latvian friend who had one kilogramme of heroin in his backpack.
The Mornaguia Prison in Tunis where the Maltese national is being detained
The man - identified as 27 year-old Yaffem Jamel Ayali Tahar from Swieqi who was recently released from Corradino Prisons for assault - was arrested at the Tunis-Carthage International Airport together with a Latvian national.
Tahar, who has a Libyan father and a Maltese mother and holds a Maltese passport.
Both were passing through security checks at the airport before they boarded a flight to Malta.
Diplomatic sources have confirmed that the drugs were found inside the Latvian's backpack which was about to be tagged for transit to Malta via Rome.
Following interrogation, the two were taken to Mornaguia prison where they will now have to wait for at least a month for an inquiring magistrate to conclude his investigations and proceed with arraignment.
This is the fourth arrest of a Maltese national in Tunisia this year.
33 year-old Msida football player Tano Farrugia was arrested in January after allegedly trying to export 50 kilogrammes of cannabis resin to Malta.
Maltese ambassador to Tunisia Vicky-Ann Cremona has reportedly visited Tahar in prison and forwarded contacts for legal counsel.
Subsequent to Farrugia's arrest in Nabeul where he is still detained, the Maltese police arrested an Egyptian national Ahmed El Fadali Anan for conspiracy to import and traffick drugs.
Last July, another two Maltese youths were arrested in Sousse in connection with a 70 kg haul of cannabis resin, also destined for Malta.
22 year-olds Thomas Camilleri of Gzira and Glen Paul Xuereb of San Gwann are still held in a Tunisian prison.
The Maltese embassy in Tunisia is actively following all cases.
