An 18-year-old student who received a decoy parcel in a police-controlled delivery, was granted bail after pleading not guilty to involvement in the importation of 14 kilos of cannabis buds.

Investigations kicked off on November 17 when customs officers at a courier company discovered a parcel containing eight kilos of cannabis grass, mailed to a Cospicua address in the name of a third party.

That discovery triggered a magisterial inquiry and a controlled delivery was attempted but failed. 

On Wednesday, another suspicious parcel was flagged, addressed to a Żejtun address in the name of another third party. 

This time the parcel contained two kilos of cannabis grass.

Another magisterial inquiry kicked off and a controlled delivery was staged.

This time, the operation succeeded and the decoy was delivered to Goswel Grima, an 18-year-old student from Żejtun, who was taken into police custody. 

Investigators believed the two parcels were linked.

Calls were made to the courier company requesting delivery and Grima was allegedly the one who was sent to collect the parcel, explained prosecuting inspector Marshal Mallia when pressing charges against the teenager on Thursday. 

On Thursday morning, a third parcel addressed to another third party in Żejtun was tracked down, containing another four kilos of cannabis grass.

In all three cases, the drug was packed in silver wrapping, each packet weighing a kilo.

Another magisterial inquiry was opened to investigate the third parcel. 

Meanwhile, Grima was questioned, opting for his right to silence. 

He was escorted to court, pleading not guilty to involvement in the drug-trafficking conspiracy, importation of cannabis grass and possession of the drug under circumstances denoting it was not solely for personal use. 

His lawyer, Franco Debono, raised an issue over the purity of the drug, reading out the definition of “cannabis” in terms of law, namely under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. 

For legal purposes, “… seeds, or cannabinoid products containing not more than ..0.2% of THC,” were excluded from that definition.

The lawyer asked the prosecutor whether the cannabis seized exceeded that 0.2% threshold. But that was something that a scientific expert was still to determine. 

The inspector could only confirm the cannabis was “not processed.” 

However, the defence insisted, arguing that the expert appointed by the inquiring magistrate ought to be summoned immediately to court to report on his findings. 

If it later turned out that the cannabis seized did not contain 0.2% purity, the case against the youth would fall through, argued Debono.

“A person’s freedom has a value,” argued the lawyer, upping his arguments in favour of bail. 

The prosecutor strongly objected not only in view of the “voluminous” amount of cannabis, but also because this case allegedly involved a conspiracy, investigations were still ongoing and civilian witnesses were still to testify. 

After hearing submissions the court, presided over by magistrate Astrid May Grima, upheld the request, against a deposit of €3,000, a personal guarantee of €10,000, daily signing of the bail book and under a curfew between 8pm and 6am.

The court upheld a request for a freezing order over all assets of the accused, save for the annual statutory allowance in the region of €13,000. 

Lawyer Francesca Zarb was also defence counsel.