A man is under arrest after a major police operation which yielded a substantial amount of drugs, cash and firearms
The operation, by the Drug Squad, the Special Intervention Unit and Cospicua police, started on Saturday and involved searches in Cospicua, Zabbar, Fgura and Marsascala.
The police said they found a kilo of cannabis grass, two kilos of synthetic drugs and cocaine.
The operation started when armed officers tailed a Mitsubishi Shogun and blocked it at Zabbar.
The driver tried to escape, driving onto the police cars and damaging two of them.
The police managed to arrest the driver, a 31-year-old from Cospicua. Inside the vehicle the police found a revolver, a machette, some €6,000 in cash and drugs.
While the arrest was taking place, officers surrounded and then searched two properties in Cospicua, a garage in Fgura and another garage in Marsascala.
A 'considerable' number of cocaine packets ready for trafficking was seized along with cash and firearms.
The police said they also seized a Toyota Vitz, a Mercedes, a Pajero, two BMW’s and four motorcycles, all belonging to the suspect.
The operation ended at 2am on Sunday.
The 31-year-old remains under arrest. Another three persons are being questioned.
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli is holding an inquiry.
Man jailed 18 months after drugs raid
Meanwhile, a man who was arrested on Friday during a police drug bust at St Julian’s, has been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty.
Mohamed Hussein Abdi, 30, was one of eight Somalis arrested during a police operation which followed days of surveillance, sparked by reports of suspected drug consumption and trafficking in the vicinity.
The arrests were followed by a search inside the nearby apartment of the suspect trafficker.
That search yielded some 80 grams of cannabis grass, electronic weighing scales as well as empty sachets, tucked away inside a locker.
The man was escorted to court today, charged with cannabis possession under circumstances indicating that the drug was not intended for his personal use and also with relapsing.
He pleaded guilty and Magistrate Neville Camilleri condemned the accused to an 18-month effective jail term.
Inspector Joseph Xerri prosecuted.