Drug traffickers heading to Malta stopped at Pozzallo

Italian police stopped two men at Pozzallo as they attempted to leave Sicily with 1.1kg of marijuana.

Michele Artale, 44, and Sandro Lo Presti, 40, both from Ragusa, reside in Malta.

The drugs were found in their car, a Fiat Uno with Maltese number plates. The duo was stopped after acting suspiciously. Initial inspection of the car only revealed large quantities of peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, onions and potatoes.

Upon removing the first side of the panel of the car’s interior, an envelope securely wrapped in a cloth soaked in diesel – to put off sniffing dogs – sprung out.

Were the two had managed to make it Malta uncaught, the drug traffickers would have made around €16,500.