An order for the arrest of an Englishman charged with the importation and intent to traffic 50,000 ecstasy pills was issued on Friday after the attorney general filed a request for the revocation of bail. Initially Steven Marsden was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm10,000.
Speaking in court, Chief Justice Dr.Vincent De Gaetano said that the 45-year-old man’s bail was revoked granted the seriousness of the case. The Chief Justice added that he was surprised that Marsden was granted bail on Monday, granted the circumstances of the case for this goes against the usual practice of the court.
Although Masrden, a resident in Malta, was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm10,000 he remained arrested because the sum couldn not be duly paid.
The drugs were found early on Monday morning, hidden in numerous packets which were stashed away in a Mitsubishi Pajero vehicle Marsden was driving. Marsden, who resides in Malta, was caught importing the drugs by the Police along with Customs’ Enforcement Section following intensive investigations. The drug find was described as Malta’s largest ecstasy haul ever. Had the drugs been sold oin the Maltese market they could have fetched around Lm 250,000($741,594, €582,330).
An 18-year-old Maltese man who was in Marsden’s company when the drugs were found is no longer being investigated. It was concluded that the youth’s association with Marsden did not have anything to do with the pills.
In turn, charges against six men involved in cocaine negotiations were on Friday declared null after the Magistrate who presided over the case some years ago failed to sign a number of pages containing evidence of the case. The case will be resubmitted in court and start over in the upcoming weeks.
The case stretches back to 2001 when Jason Briffa, Publius Micallef, Joseph Grech and Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) members Raymond Bonello, Sandro Psaila and Saviour Azzopardi were caught plotting to import three kilograms of cocaine via Sicily.
Magistrate Joseph Galea Debono presiding over the court on Friday declared the evidence of the case as worthless because of the lacking signatures. Although some of the pages were stamped by both the Magistrate and the Court’s registrar and bore the registrar’s signature, the magistrate’s signature was missing. For this reason Magistrate Joseph Galea Debono declared the compilation of evidence as null and ordered that the case is to be resubmitted in court.
See also:
Man in court over 50,000 ecstasy pills
By MaltaMedia News
Jul 11, 2006, 15:47 CET
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