Nine-year jail terms, Lm10,000 fines for cultivating cannabis

A Qormi man and another from Marsa were yesterday jailed for nine years and nine-and-a-half-years respectively and each fined Lm10,000 for the cultivation of 19 cannabis plants in 1999.

Michael Zahra, 38, of Qormi and Fabian Galea, 33, of Marsa pleaded guilty to cultivating the plants in a farmhouse situated in the limits of Mgarr, during what was meant to be the beginning of their trial by jury.

They also admitted to relapsing while Galea alone pleaded guilty to keeping and carrying a flick-knife without a licence.

The bill of indictment that was read out to Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono said that police suspected that cannabis was being cultivated in a farmhouse situated in the limits of Mgarr, because of its hidden location. The farmhouse was divided into two rooms that did not have doors but had to be accessed by crawling through openings in the walls. The closest road was a substantial distance away so that one had to park far away and access it on foot.

While surveying the area police noticed Zahra and Galea approach the farmhouse in a Peugeot 104 at night in August 1999.

Each was carrying a jerrycan, a torch and other tools and the ease with which they made their way around the area showed that it was not their first time there. In fact, the bill said, they had been going there regularly for the previous four months.

That night police saw Zahra and Galea water the 19 cannabis plants and arrange the leaves. The bill also claimed that they did so with the intent to cultivate the cannabis and sell it.

On handing down judgment, Mr Justice Galea Debono noted that the men had filed a guilty plea at an early stage, the type and quantity of drug involved and that on being arrested they claimed that they cultivated the cannabis for their own use.

The judge noted that Galea had four convictions on his criminal record ranging from cannabis and heroin possession to cannabis trafficking.

Zahra, he noted, had no fewer than 11 convictions and these included defilement, theft, cannabis and heroin possession and heroin trafficking.

He also ordered the confiscation of their movable and immovable property.

Seniour Counsel to the Republic Dr Mark Said prosecuted.

Dr Joseph Giglio and Dr José Herrera appeared for the men.