Four arrested as Mosta garage raid nets 5kg cannabis and 10,000 euros
Drug Squad officers watching a Mosta garage arrested four people on 11 June 2020 after finding five bags holding 5kg of suspected cannabis and 10,000 euros in cash in a car. Two days later the court froze the assets of 36-year-old Mosta man Jeffrey Cassar in the trafficking and money laundering case against him.
Members of the Drug Squad had watched a garage in Triq il-Buffula l-Hamra, Mosta for weeks when, on Thursday 11 June 2020, they saw a 46-year-old Mosta man and a 22-year-old Russian woman from Siggiewi enter it.[1]Inside, officers found a 36-year-old Mosta man beside a parked vehicle holding five bags with 5kg of suspected cannabis and 10,000 euros in cash.[1]
Police arrested the trio plus a 58-year-old woman living at the same residence, who owned the car the drugs were found in.[1]Officers also confiscated several luxury vehicles, and Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was put in charge of the inquiry.[1]
Two days later, on 13 June, the Court of Magistrates as a court of criminal judicature ordered the temporary freezing of all assets of 36-year-old soft-drink vendor Jeffrey Cassar of Triq il-Bufula Hamra, Mosta, in compilation 256/2020 brought by Inspector Anthony Scerri under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the money laundering act and the Criminal Code.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The raid account and the freezing order name different magistrates, with Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech leading the inquiry and Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace issuing the later decree, reflecting different stages of the case.
Only Jeffrey Cassar was named; the 46-year-old man, the 22-year-old Russian woman and the 58-year-old woman were not named and no charges against them were detailed.
No trial outcome was reported.
The cannabis was described as 5kg of suspected cannabis grass, with no test result published.
The Independent page carries scene photos that could not be verified by direct viewing, so no media entry was added.
Police in Gozo raided a residence on Triq ix-Xjuf ir-Riħ in Nadur after surveillance, arrested a 27-year-old German man and seized about 20 cannabis plants, seeds and cultivation equipment. Magistrate Simone Grech opened an inquiry.
After weeks of surveillance, Malta police raided apartments on Alfred Craig Street in Pietà, arrested four Romanians and seized about 10 kilograms of cannabis valued at roughly €150,000. A fifth Romanian was arrested at a Gżira hotel the same morning.
Police arrested eight Maltese men in four raids across Żebbuġ, Marsa, Żabbar, Qormi, Pietà and San Ġwann and recovered about 85 kilograms of cannabis resin stolen from an Armed Forces of Malta container at Safi. Roughly 226 kilograms had been taken from court-held evidence overnight before the theft was found on Sunday.
Police raided a garage complex on St Vincent Street, Hamrun, on 11 January 2018 and found 32 kilograms of cannabis resin in a hidden car compartment plus about 42,000 euros in cash. Italian Salvatore Coco and Maltese men Michael Aquilina and Gordon Schembri were arrested and denied bail on trafficking, importation and money laundering charges.
