Updated at 11.45am - Added video
Five people were arrested last night as the police seized Malta’s biggest drug haul, also confiscating €100,000 in cash.
The haul - 550kg cannabis haul and the cash - was hidden in two Italian registered trucks and a Maltese-registered car. The total market value of the haul is several millions.
Addressing a news conference this morning, the police said the cash indicated this was part of a money laundering operation.
Five men - two Italians, two Slovenians and a Maltese in his thirties - have been arrested and are set to be charged in the next 48 hours.
Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia tweeted this morning that this was the biggest amount of drugs sezied. He congratulated the police on their work.
Assistant police commissioner Denis Theuma and police inspector Kevin Pulis told a crime conference that the drugs were found hidden under the floorboard of the vans following several days of observation.
The discovery included 20kg of cannabis buds.
The vehicles were found in a private car park in St Julian’s and in a garage in Fgura.