Cocaine trafficker jailed for five years over €25,000 drug haul
Nigerian man must pay €15,000 fine within a week or face more jail time
A 33-year-old man was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to importing cocaine.
Godstine Idogin, a Nigerian national, was also accused of supplying cocaine and being in possession of the drug in circumstances which denoted it was not for personal use.
The man first pleaded guilty before the Court of Magistrates on July 28 and reiterated his admission before the Criminal Court on August 4.
The prosecution and defence made a joint request asking that the man is jailed for five years and fined €15,000, excluding court fees.
The Criminal Court observed that according to the court-appointed expert, the drugs consisted of a mixture of cocaine and phenacetin weighing 397g with an estimated street value of €25,430. The cocaine had an estimated purity of 48%.
The court upheld the joint request and sentenced the man to five years in prison, fined him €15,000 and ordered him to pay €3,460.39 in court expenses.
A request by the defence to pay the fine in instalments was turned down by the Criminal Court, with Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera observing that the man would soon finish serving his sentence and the man would leave the country once released from prison.
It is understood that the man has been in preventive custody since his arraignment in 2022. The court ordered him to pay the fine within a week or else it would be converted to a prison term.
The Criminal Court also ordered the destruction of the drugs.
Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera presided over the Criminal Court.