Trial over 2010 50kg cannabis shipment kicks off

The trial by jury of an Egyptian national accused of conspiring with others to import 50kg of cannabis resin from Tunisia in 2010 has commenced this morning.

Ahmed El Fadali Enan, 52, who has lived in Malta for the past 29 years, is indicted for conspiracy to import the drugs with the involvement of a Maltese former footballer who was arrested in Tunisia in connection with the planned drug shipment. He is also indicted for recruiting other individuals who took part in the alleged crime.

Enan had been arraigned in court on 15 January 2010 on charges of conspiracy to import cannabis and cocaine possession.

The first witness expected to testify when Enan’s trial by jury begins on Tuesday is Assistant Commissioner of Police Dennis Theuma, who had first testified in the compilation of evidence against the man. Theuma had told the court in 2010 that police investigations had indicated Enan as having contacts in several countries and had been involved in suspicious money transfers between Italy and Tunisia.

At the time of Enan’s arrest, a Maltese man had been arrested in Tunis in connection with an alleged plan to send 50 kg of cannabis to Malta. The man, ex-Msida S.J. footballer Tano Farrugia, is expected to be the star witness in Enan’s trial.

The Tunisian police had arrested Farrugia in early 2010 after drugs were found in his Nabeul hotel room. In January 2013, Farrugia was subsequently released from a Tunisian prison, where he had been held on drug trafficking charges; one of the 312 prisoners granted a pardon on the order of Tunisia’s provisional President Moncef Marzouki to mark the second anniversary of his country’s revolution. 

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is defence counsel to Enan.

Madam justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera is presiding over the trial.