Brothers cleared of drug possession charges

Two brothers have been released after they were cleared of charges of cannabis possession and trafficking.

Silvio Galea, 41, and his brother Antoine, 39, both from Zejtun, had been charged separately with aggravated possession of cannabis. Antoine Galea alone was also charged with trafficking the illegal substance.

The case harks back to July 2006, when a police surveillance operation of a house at Zejtun and subsequent search in a boat registered to Antoine Galea had discovered 31 pieces of cannabis.

Shortly after the police had arrested Antoine Galea in a bar in Zejtun, officers had observed a man and woman hurrying into the brothers' home and leaving shortly afterwards. The police said that the man was Silvio Galea. However, the officer staking out the property had seen them crossing the road and going to a field where the boat was being stored. Other officers discovered the drugs on the boat.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras declared that the prosecution had failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. The court noted that although the drugs had been found on the man's property, the fingerprints lifted from the drugs did not match either of the accused men.

It said that whilst the accuseds' actions were indeed suspicious, on the other hand, the link between the men and the drugs was not strong enough to satisfy the legal requirements for a conviction.

Inspector Norbert Ciappara prosecuted. Lawyer Edward Gatt was defence counsel.