Court lowers bail deposit for AFM drugs heist suspect again
The fourth man charged with stealing drugs from AFM Safi barracks could not afford to pay the €20,000 deposit
One of the four men accused of the AFM Safi barracks drugs heist had his bail deposit reduced after making three requests to the court as he could not afford to pay.
Yousef Essessi, 33, from St Paul’s Bay was the only one of the four people charged with the heist not to leave prison on bail as he did not have the money to pay the €20,000 deposit.
Originally, Essessi was granted bail in June against a €30,000 deposit and a €40,000 personal guarantee together with his co-accused Sean Attard, 30 from Żebbuġ and brothers Carlos and Cleaven Pace, 23 and 19 from Marsa. All four had remained behind bars because they could not come up with the bail deposit money.
The four men were arrested shortly after the spectacular February heist which saw some 132kg of cannabis resin stolen from a container which was supposedly under guard at the AFM's Safi barracks. The drugs were part of a consignment of cannabis resin seized at Malta Freeport in June 2024.
The four stand accused of carrying out the robbery, criminal association for the purpose of drug trafficking and cannabis possession in circumstances denoting it was not for their personal use. Carlos Pace also stands accused of having breached the terms of a suspended sentence handed to him in 2023 and bail conditions imposed on him in 2024 in separate criminal cases. They deny the charges.
In July, the four men requested the court to lower the deposit requirement. The request was upheld and the deposit was reduced to €20,000 and the personal guarantee increased to €50,000.
During that sitting, lawyer Amadeus Cachia, had argued that his client could only deposit €10,000.
While Attard and the Pace brothers left prison on bail, Essessi remained behind bars.
He filed a second request for a reduction which was dismissed.
Finally, on the third attempt he was successful when he provided evidence to substantiate the claims being made in the application.
After hearing the submissions, the court took into consideration the time the man has been on remand after being granted bail as well as the documents provided which show that the deposit should be further reduced to reflect the means of the accused.
The court upheld the request and reduced the deposit to €12,000 and increased the personal guarantee to €57,000. The rest of the conditions remained the same.
Magistrate Elaine Rizzo presided over the case.
AG lawyers Maria Francesca Spiteri and Kevin Valletta prosecuted, assisted by police inspectors Mark Anthony Mercieca, Alfredo Mangion and Jeffrey Scicluna Briffa.
Lawyers Amadeus Cachia and Nicholas Mifsud are assisting Essesi.
Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri, Charles Mercieca and Adreana Zammit assisted the Pace brothers. Debono and lawyer Matthew Xuereb are assisting Sean Attard.