Four charged with smuggling €600,000 worth of cocaine from Sicily to Malta

Updated 3.20pm

Four people have been remanded in custody after 12.5kg of cocaine was found hidden in a vehicle after being allegedly smuggled into Malta from Sicily. 

The two Italian nationals and two Maltese nationals denied illegally importing the drug, with an estimated street value of €600,000.

Initial police investigations established that two Italian nationals, Agatino Claudio Roberto, 49, and Daniela Portale, 42, had arrived in Malta from Sicily via the ferry. 

Upon their arrival on Tuesday the police followed their car to Gudja, where they met two Maltese men, both aged 26. 

Officers found the drugs in a compartment of a vehicle. Photo: Malta Police Force

The officers found the drugs in a compartment within the vehicle and the three men and one woman were arrested on site. 

They were taken to the Floriana police lock-up and were arraigned in court on Thursday.

Roberto, a fishmonger from Catania, and Portale, who works as a telephone company representative and is also from Catania, were charged alongside Keith Spiteri, a carer from Gudja, and Jide Mallia, a part-time gypsum worker and mechanic.

The four were accused of associating to traffic cocaine, being part of an organised crime group, being in aggravated possession of the drug and cocaine trafficking.

Spiteri and Mallia were separately accused of having committed a crime during the operative period of a probation order.

All four denied all charges. 

Police inspector Alfredo Mangion told the court that the investigation had been ongoing for some time, when the police identified a vehicle possibly being used to import drugs from Sicily, with the involvement of Maltese individuals.

The police had information that the vehicle carrying Roberto and Portale was due to arrive in Malta on Tuesday. They followed it from when it disembarked in Marsa all the way to Gudja where they met Spiteri. All three individuals were immediately arrested.

Some time later Mallia made his way to the area. Upon sensing police presence he tried to flee but was swiftly arrested by the police.

No request for bail was made at this stage, and the four were remanded in custody.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech presided. AG lawyer Maria Francesca Spiteri prosecuted, assisted by police inspector Alfredo Mangion.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit appeared for Keith Spiteri. Legal aid lawyer Rachel Tua assisted Agatino Claudio Roberto. Legal aid lawyer Yanika Bugeja assisted Daniela Portale. Lawyers Marion Camilleri and Matthew Xuereb assisted Jide Mallia.