Updated: 5.05pm 

The DNA of two men accused in connection with last month's drug heist from an AFM barracks was found on torches lifted from the scene, a court was told on Tuesday.

Investigators also reported that CCTV footage recorded between midnight and 2am on February 23 showed two figures entering the AFM's Safi barracks three times through a hole in a fence to carry the stolen drugs in shopping baskets from a container to a waiting car. 

Using the CCTV footage, police were able to track down the cars to a garage in Żebbuġ, where they found most of the stolen drugs. 

A detailed timeline of the heist were given as the court began to hear the compilation of evidence against five men and a woman arraigned last week and accused of carrying out last month's theft or involvement in it.

Sean Attard from Żebbuġ, Carlos Pace from Marsa, Yousef Essesi from St Paul’s Bay, Cleaven Pace from Marsa, Liam Stewart from Pieta and Christa Gauci have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police inspector Mark Anthony Mercieca, who forms part of the Drug Squad, said this case goes back to June 2024 when Customs seized a container at the freeport that was suspected to contain undeclared merchandise.

A shipment from Morocco in June

The container arrived from Morocco and was destined for Libya. Documents claimed it contained six industrial induction ovens.

Scans showed something was irregular. An inquiry was ordered and experts were appointed.

Over two days, the induction ovens were dismantled. In each one, there were six large wheels packed with blocks of cannabis resin – in total 4,299.5 kilogrammes.

After this exercise, the substance was kept in a container that was sealed and placed in the Customs compound with 24-7 armed police surveillance.

On June 20, 2024 the magistrate authorised the destruction of the substance in the container and officials started to destroy it in the incinerator.

A fault stopped the drugs' destruction

After a substantial amount was burned, the incinerator developed a fault and the destruction had to stop after about 1,962 kilos were burnt. The remaining drugs were kept in a police van. The van was taken back to Customs and parked near the container – again it was under 24-7 surveillance.

On January 16, following Customs industrial action, the drugs had to be removed from there and, with court permission, moved back into the container and taken to the AFM Safi barracks. During this handover, the inspector said he was present with a team of police officers to escort the truck. It was unloaded  at the AFM compound.

The drugs were transported from Customs to AFM by a private haulier escorted by police since police do not have equipment to carry such an amount of drugs. This was a decision taken by the court registrar as the drugs were in the custody of the court registrar.

The seals were checked and photographed and registered.

An opened container

On February 23, at about 3.40am he was informed by phone call from AFM officers on duty at Safi that the container had been opened and items stolen. He went on site with members of the Rapid Intervention Unit and the forensic unit to safeguard any evidence.

The container was ajar and the seals were detached.

RIU officers went inside and saw no one there. The container was resealed and locked and the surroundings were inspected. Four metres from the container, the police noticed a small black flashlight on the ground.

As he walked towards a fence, the inspector said he noticed a hole cut in the fence. Another flashlight was found nearby. The flashlights were collected in evidence bags as well as cigarette butts found in the area. Blue and red broken seals were found in the weeds near the container. 

CCTV footage captures the theft

CCTV footage taken between midnight and 2am showed figures enter the compound, run, open the container and load a grey Toyota. Two figures were seen hiding behind a tree before they headed to the container, going in and out three times and loading the car, using shopping bags.

The footage showed a Toyota Belta stopped near an alley outside the AFM barracks and two people wearing a hoodie emerging. The only person identified via CCTV was Carlos Pace, whose face was clearer when stepping out of the container due to the lighting in the area.

Officials initially determined that 226kg of cannabis was missing. Forensic examiners later determined that 132kg was the amount stolen and not 226kg.

When inspector Charlo Casha from the forensic department later took the stand, defence lawyer Franco Debono asked the witness if he knew who miscalculated that 226 kg of cannabis resin was stolen. Casha said that he does not know as he was not on scene, however, he believes that the mistake was made by the investigators who were on the scene when the theft was first reported.

Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud testified that he had gone on site to find a hole cut in the fence that was close to a container, from where the drugs were stolen. 

The day after the theft, from CCTV camera footage, Arnaud said that they were able to identify the two people entering the barracks who were using a flashlight. 

Tracing the cars to a Żebbuġ garage

Police had gathered CCTV footage from streets, shops and houses. The footage showed a Toyota Belta stopped outside the barracks, while a Toyota Fitz was further away. 

Investigators confirmed that the car was a grey Toyota Belta that was registered under the name of a woman who said it was being used by Essesi.

CCTV showed the Belta  - followed by a Toyota Vitz – drive along various streets until they arrived in Triq L-Independenza, Żebbuġ, when the Belta entered a garage and the Vitz kept going. 

In the Belta there were a driver and the two people who had entered the compound.

Inspector Arnaud said three people emerged from the Belta and began unloading bags that, from the CCTV footage, seemed to be very heavy. Overall they spent 20 minutes in the garage. 

From CCTV footage, the police were able to identify the men as Essesi, Pace and Attard. Arnaud added that Attard left the garage on foot and walked across the street to his residence. 

DNA lifted from flashlights found on the scene

Forensic experts showed that DNA on the flashlights found at the barracks was of Carlos Pace and Essesi.

Sean Attard, it emerged, was at the wheel as he was seen stepping out of the car in the Zebbug garage.

Cleaven Pace and Christa Gauci were in a Vitz that followed the Belta but drove in another direction when the Belta entered the Żebbuġ garage.

The inspector said that drugs eventually found in the possession of the accused were similar to those found in the container, with similar logos and stamps.

The June 2024 drug seizure at Customs was the first find of cannabis resin found packaged in this format: in squared packages made of multiple 100-gram layers referred to as ‘passports’ due to the shape and size. Each block was about 1kg.

Amongst the various items exhibited in court, the inspector produced a notebook that was found in the home of Carlos Pace during a search.

On the cover there was a note ‘garage Żabbar’. Inside there was a name and mobile number of the son of the garage owner. It turned out that Carlos Pace rented the garage from the person. 

The first arrest

The first arrest was made the day after, on February 25 at 1am, when police entered Attard's residence and arrested him, his mother, his sister, and his sister's partner. 

On the roof, the police found a Zen Sushi bag that had cannabis in it. However, the roof was hared between six different flats. 

With Attard and his mother present, the police opened the garage at 3.15am. Inside the garage, they found three bags, which each had blocks of cannabis resin. Sixteen blocks weighing 16kg, eleven blocks weighing 11kg and eight blocks weighing eight kg were found in the three heavy bags.

Replying to questions, the inspector said Cleaven Pace and Christa Gauci went to the police after hearing they were looking for them. No drugs were found on them. Both denied involvement in the theft.

One of the accused showed police where drugs were hidden

Following Attard's arrest, police arrested Essesi and Carlos Pace.

The police found two bags with 16 and 17 blocks of cannabis respectively in Pace's garage, in Qormi. 

While they were in Qormi, the police also arrested Essesi.

When Essesi was arrested, he took police to a field in St Julians where he had hidden a shopping bag containing 10 blocks that looked like the blocks of drug in the AFM container, the inspector added.  Essesi told police he had given some drugs to third parties and hid some in a field in San Ġwann. When the police went to the field, they found a black bag with another ten blocks. 

All the packaging that the police found resembled the packaging of the cannabis resin that was stolen from the army barracks, Arnaud said. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Police Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna Briffa described how Liam Stewart, 23, was arrested while driving in Ħamrun.

He told Magistrate Elaine Rizzo that during investigations, the police were informed on February 25 that Stewart, who drove a Toyota Vitz, could be moving drugs that had been stolen from the barracks.

Stewart was arrested as he drove at a crossroad in Mile End Street, Ħamrun. He crashed into a van as he tried to flee the police.

Officers searched his car and his residence in Pieta. A bag was found in the engine room of the lift on the roof of the apartment where he lived. It contained three blocks of suspected drugs, wrapped in plastic.

Another block suspected to be cannabis resin was found in Stewart's apartment along with drug-related items like weighing scales, spoons and plastic bags. In separate drawers in a bedroom, they found €1,700 and €1,150 in cash.

Stewart was later taken to police headquarters for questioning. He called his lawyers Franco Debono and Andreana Zammit and chose not to reply to questions.

The magistrate also heard court expert Godwin Sammut explain that he examined the drugs found by the police. These included three kilogrammes of cannabis, 800 grammes THC and 60 grammes cocaine.

When asked by Franco Debono if the National Laboratory of the University of Malta  - where he worked – was accredited, Sammut explained that it was not, however the university was in the process of applying for accreditation.

He explained there were no EU or local legal requirements for the lab to be accredited when it came to examining drug content. Accreditation was needed when examining DNA and fingerprints, and this was due to data protection purposes.

Debono reserved the right to request the removal of any drug analysis carried out by any uncredited laboratory from the evidence presented in court in this case. He said the prosecution was duty-bound to produce the best evidence. There existed at least one laboratory that was accredited and carried out drug analysis.

Two others were called to testify on Tuesday. 

Bjorn Bonnici, the owner of a garage in Żebbuġ, testified that he had been renting it to Pace – who he identified in the courtroom - for a year at €100 per month. Under cross examination, Debono asked Bonnici why he had written "Carlo" and not “Carlos” in his rental book. Bonnici said that he was referring to Carlos Pace.

Dorian Attard, the mother of Sean Attard, declined to testify, stating that she wants to consult with a lawyer first.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Matthew Xuereb, Marion Camilleri, Amadeus Cachia, Andreana Zammi appeared for the accused. Police Inspector Mark Anthony Mercieca, Alfredo Mangion and Jeffrey Scicluna Briffa prosecuted along with Attorney General lawyer Francesca Spiteri.

The court has banned publication of any security details that emerge during the case.