Updated | Man charged following police drug raid in Gozo

Gozo resident Hanibal N. Bashir Mohamed, 33, from Libya has been remanded in custody this morning after police found drugs stashed in his house. 

Magistrate  Bridgette Sultana, presiding over the Gozo court of magistrates, heard how Mohamed was arrested after police received anonymous information that he was trafficking drugs. Officers went to the accused’s apartment in Marsalforn on Wednesday and found a number of cannabis cigarettes inside his residence. In a common area near the roof, a large speaker was found containing 300g of cannabis and 20g of cocaine. The speaker matched one that was found inside the man’s flat but which had nothing illicit in it.

Defence lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia entered a plea of not guilty on the man’s behalf and requested bail on the basis of the presumption of innocence and the fact that he had an alternate address in Malta. The court, however, denied bail owing to the gravity of the offence and the fact that civilian witnesses were yet to testify.

Inspector Frank Anthony Tabone prosecuted.