Two persons of Maltese nationality were arraigned in court accused of assisting a group of illegal immigrants in their attempted sea escape from Malta last week. Anthony Abdilla, 59, and his 26-year-old daughter Dorianne Abdilla of Żejtun pleaded not guilty to the accusations brought against them.
Mr Abdilla was accused of assisting the illegal immigrants to escape with the intention to make some profit, while his daughter was charged with complicity in the human trafficking activity.
The court presided over by Magistrate Anthony Vella accepted the prosecution’s plea and granted the accused bail against a personal guarantee of Lm15,000 each, but ordered the accused to be kept under house arrest. The prosecution was led by Inspectors Jeffrey Cilia and Josric Mifsud.
The attempted escape ended in tragedy after the boat capsized, leaving one immigrant dead and nine missing. Three of the illegal immigrants managed to make it to shore and another was rescued by the members of the Armed Forces of Malta.
See also:
Illegal immigrants flee once more from detention centre
By MaltaMedia News - Mar 6, 2006, 17:00 CET
Read more about this issue on MaltaMedia's special feature:
Lanċa Ġejja u O©¤ra Sejra: Malta and its migrations.
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