Man jailed for human trafficking conspiracy

A 52-year-old Algerian national was yesterday jailed for three years for conspiring to traffic people by helping them travel from Malta to Italy illegally two years ago.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that although Ferhat Guellouma, of Birkirkara, had a clean criminal record, the court felt it should transmit the message that human trafficking cannot be tolerated.

The magistrate heard how on October, 13, 2002, the police raided a Qormi residence from where they arrested nine Tunisian men who were in Malta illegally.

While in police custody two of the Tunisians, Karim Zafran and Sami Khalifa, explained that Guellouma had picked them up from a hotel where they were staying. He pulled his car over near another car driven by John Bugeja and asked them to get into Bugeja's vehicle.

Bugeja then took them to a Qawra residence where they were apprehended by the police before they could leave for Italy as planned.

Zafran paid €1,000 while Khalif paid just under €1,000 to Guellouma.

Bugeja, who passed away in August 2003, was originally Guellouma's co-accused.

Police Inspector Sandro Zarb prosecuted.