Libyan youths conditionally discharged for cocaine possession

Two Libyan men have been conditionally discharged for a year after pleading guilty to being in possession of cocaine while attending a birthday party in Paceville.

The court heard how Drug Squad personnel apprehended the two men in Havana Club, Paceville. A subsequent search yielded two sachets of cocaine.

Prosecuting inspector Malcolm Bondin told the court that the accused, Mohamed Gaumati and Ismail Elbasha, were drunk during the early hours of Wednesday while celebrating a friend’s birthday party, when a man approached them and offered them cocaine.

The accused accepted and went in the toilets at Havana, where drug squad personnel spotted and apprehended them.

Mohamed Gaumati, 24, of Tripoli, and Ismail Elbasha, 28, of Tripoli – both residing in Swieqi - admitted to being in possession of cocaine.

In its decree, the court noted that the men were in possession of a small amount of drugs, they had clean criminal records, and the fact that it was their first time taking drugs. Consequently, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja conditionally discharged the men for 12 months.

Lawyer Joseph Mizzi was legal aid, while Inspector Malcolm Bondin prosecution.