Four plead not guilty as AFM drug heist arrests rise to 12

Updated 8.50pm

Four men arrested in connection with a drugs heist from an army barracks pleaded not guilty to criminal charges on Wednesday evening.

The four accused were among 12 arrested by police in a raft of raids held on Tuesday and Wednesday, just days after 226kg of cannabis resin was stolen from an Armed Forces of Malta facility in Safi.

One of the eight remaining suspects is to be charged separately on Thursday morning, prosecutors told the court.

At least one of the 12 is a haulier who was involved in transporting the container from the Malta Freeport to the AFM barracks, prosecutors revealed. 

Journalists threatened outside court

Tensions were running high for the arraignment and some journalists said they were threatened outside the Valletta law courts before the hearing began. 

One journalist told Times of Malta that aggressors - believed to be relatives of some of the accused - threatened to "beat up your children" and threw water at members of the press.  

A police spokesperson told Times of Malta that officers were dispatched to ensure the safety of reporters.

Who are the first four accused?

The four hauled to court on Wednesday are 30-year-old Żebbuġ resident Sean Attard, 23-year-old Carlos Pace from Marsa, 33-year-old Yousef Essesi from St Paul’s Bay and 19-year-old Marsa resident Cleaven Pace.

They all stand accused of carrying out the Saturday night cannabis 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.

Two of the accused duck as they are driven out of court following their arraignment.

Prosecutors told the court that 12 people are under arrest on suspicion of having played a part in the AFM heist – six more than the eight arrests announced by Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa during a news conference on Tuesday evening.

Gafa had said at the time that the investigation was still active and he did not exclude further arrests. 

Police found 35kg of cannabis resin inside Attard’s car, 33kg of the drug after arresting Carlos Pace and a further 10kg after arresting Essesi. No drugs were found on Cleaven Pace, who however admitted to interrogators that he was in the area at the time of the heist.

Others interrogated declined to answer questions.

Investigators tracked down the suspects by tracing the route taken by a vehicle they believe was used for the Saturday night heist. That vehicle made its way from Kirkop to Safi, then Mqabba and finally a property in Żebbuġ, the court heard. Police raided the Żebbuġ property at 1am on Monday night, arresting four people in the process.

A police car outside the Valletta law courts building on Wednesday.

Bail denied

Magistrate Leonard Caruana agreed to issue a freezing order following the prosecution's request. 

The court turned down a request for bail by all four accused, who were remanded in custody. 

The drugs were stolen from inside a sealed container being held by the AFM at the request of the Court Services Agency and were part of a much larger seizure of cannabis resin carried out at the Malta Freeport last July. 

Army officials only discovered that the container had been breached and the drugs stolen during a routine patrol of the area at around 3am on Sunday morning.

Police were immediately informed and a manhunt began. 

Army commander Brigadier Clinton O’Neil was immediately suspended pending investigation, and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri offered his resignation, which was rejected by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

The Opposition, which has said Camilleri must resign following the scandal, reacted by vowing to wage a "war on drugs".

Apart from the ongoing police investigation, the crime is the subject of a magisterial inquiry. Meanwhile, a retired judge, Geoffrey Valenzia, has been given 14 days to look into the way in which the drugs were being held and what security failures contributed to the heist. 

Correction 9.50pm: A previous version incorrectly stated that reporters were escorted out the back of the law courts building.