Court grants bail to men accused of smuggling cigarettes out of Freeport

Three men who work at the Freeport and who were arraigned in court on 16 February in connection with the smuggling of contraband cigarettes were granted bail. The men were allegedly caught on camera tampering with a container full of cigarettes.

The compilation of evidence in this case kicked off yesterday evening. Footage from CCTV cameras led to the arrest of three men: 53-year-old stevedore Rocky Agius, 39-year-old Freeport security from Qormi, assistant Michael Sciberras, 42 from Valletta and 42-year-old senior customs assistant Billy Grech from Zejtun.  

The three men are each accused of the theft of the cigarettes – whose value, assuming they were genuine Empire Royals, amounts to €1.04 million when excise duty, import duty and VAT are factored in – as well as to seeking to defraud the government of the taxes due. Mr Sciberras and Mr Grech were separately accused of accepting bribes and of consequently failing to perform their duties as public officials.

They were all granted bail late in the evening, with Michael Sciberras and Billy Grech on a €2,000 deposit and €5,000 personal guarantee, while Agius was granted bail on a €1,000 deposit and €5,000 personal guarantee.

Witness Derek Alley, a representative of the CMA CGM, the French company that runs the Freeport, said that despite filing a claim with Malta Freeport, the company had not actually lost anything except perhaps face with the client. The company is in Misurata, Libya. The company meant to receive the container had not filed a claim. He also said that the cigarettes stolen were worth some $60,000 (about €47,000), even less if they are fake, which he said was also a possibility.

All three are pleading not guilty to the charges brought against them. 

Lawyers Giannella de Marco and Edward Gatt appeared for Mr Agius, Veronique Dalli for Mr Sciberras and Paul Lia for Mr Grech.