A suspected drug smuggler, whose panicked driving manouevre caused his 500,000-cigarette loaded cabin cruiser to topple onto a police car has been cleared of illegal smuggling due to insufficient evidence. 

Clayton Azzopardi was arrested in September 2016 after police recieved a tip-off about a suspected drug consignment that was due to be smuggled into Malta on his boat. 

Officers from the Drugs Squad watched as he docked in a bay in the Marsascala area at around 8pm and transported his vessel on to a trailer that was attached to a Toyota Hilux.

When the officers zeroed in, Azzopardi appeared to panic, causing the cabin cruiser to topple over and land on the bonnet of the police car, leaving it extensively damaged. 

The cabin cruiser was towed away to the police compound and searched in Azzopardi’s presence. 

Tucked away inside the cabin police found several boxes of Richman Royal and Rocco cigarettes totaling over 500,000 cigarettes with a total value of over €14,500. 

The merchandise was subject to more than €85,000 in customs duty, almost €8,400 in import duty and around €19,400 in VAT. 

Azzopardi insisted to police that no drugs were involved and claimed he had acquired the cigarettes from a ship sailing in Maltese territorial waters. He had taken the load but did not know the name of the ship. 

He was subsequently charged with importation and possession of the cigarettes, failing to pay the relative taxes and duties, committing these offences while under probation as well as relapsing. 

He pleaded not guilty. 

In her judgment Magistrate Ann Marie Thake said the prosecution's evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that the merchandise consisted of cigarettes which had indeed been imported and were found in the accused’s possession. 

However, the prosecution had failed to prove that duty and taxes on those goods had actually not been paid. 

Although they had summoned thirteen witnesses, each variously involved in the case, none had shed light upon that fact.

Even the pictures of the seized items, produced by the police, did not help resolve that issue, observed the court.

Lacking that “basic evidence,” the court could not do otherwise than acquit the accused of the charges concerning the importation and possession of the allegedly contraband cigarettes. 

The court then considered the charge of wilful damage caused to the rented vehicle that was being used by the Drugs Squad and which had close to €3,000 in damages when the cabin cruiser crashed onto its bonnet.

As contested by the defence, the evidence did not show that the accused had caused that damage deliberately. 

He had panicked at the sight of the police and instead of hitting the brakes had pressed the gas pedal, Azzopardi explained after the incident. 

The court concluded that there was no doubt that the damage was done because the accused behaved negligently without observing traffic rules.

That negligence made him guilty of the lesser offence of involuntary damage. 

As for the charge of committing the offences while under probation, no copy of that probation judgment was produced in the records of this case nor anything to prove whether it had been appealed. 

The charge of recidivism was not applicable once the accused was being found guilty of an involuntary offence, observed the magistrate.

Azzopardi was only found guilty of causing involuntary damage to the police vehicle and was conditionally discharged for six months. 

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri were defence counsel.