Two of the six people charged with their involvement in last month’s massive AFM drug heist are arguing that the prosecution has not produced sufficient evidence for them to stand trial. 

Sean Attard from Żebbuġ, Carlos Pace from Marsa, Yousef Essesi from St Paul’s Bay, Cleaven Pace from Marsa, and Christa Gauci are pleading not guilty to their involvement in the theft of 132kg of cannabis resin from a sealed container at the Safi barracks in the early hours of February 23.

A sixth person - Liam Stewart, 23, from Pieta - is facing separate charges in connection with the same theft. 

During a sitting, presided over by Magistrate Elaine Rizzo on Thursday morning, the lawyers of Essesi, Attard and Carlos Pace did not contest that the magistrate had ruled there was enough prima facie evidence against their clients for the case against them to proceed.

However, the lawyers of Cleaven Pace and Gauci contested that there was prima facie evidence in the case of the two.

The prosecution said that, according to evidence exhibited so far, the couple were in the area during the time of the heist as well as before and after.

Data localisation and footage placed them there and future evidence will prove how they were clearly inside a car that was escorting the vehicle that was involved in the heist. 

A fishing expedition 

Lawyer Franco Debono said that the prosecution built the bulk of its case on its “interpretation” of footage that, they claimed, showed the car they were in following the vehicle used in the heist to serve as a lookout.

That footage had not yet been exhibited which meant that the court could not take any evidence - based on that unexhibited evidence - into account at this stage.

He said this was “a fishing expedition” as there was not enough evidence for the court to rule that they had a case to answer for in terms of the charges brought against them - stealing the cannabis, conspiring to traffic and trafficking in the drug.

He added that when the couple heard that the police were looking for them, they went to the police willingly.

The magistrate put off the case to Monday when she will decide on the prima facie evidence and a pending bail request. 

The case so far

In a previous sitting, the magistrate heard how the drugs were held by the AFM at the request of the Court Services Agency and were part of a larger seizure of cannabis resin made at the Malta Freeport last June.

Officials initially determined that 226kg of cannabis was missing, but last week, forensic examiners confirmed that 132kg was the amount stolen.

The court also heard how CCTV footage taken between midnight and 2am showed figures entering the compound, running, opening the container and loading a grey Toyota.

Two figures were seen hiding behind a tree before they headed to the container, going in and out three times and loading the car, using shopping bags.

They passed through an opening which they cut in a fence.

On Monday four AFM soldiers were called to testify but declined without giving a reason. 

The following day the conclusions of an administrative inquiry into the heist, led by retired Judge Geoffrey Valencia, were published.

The inquiry found that a soldier responsible for monitoring 35 CCTV cameras on site that night was instead watching a film on a tablet with earphones.

He also spent time on the phone with his girlfriend, cooked and ate food in a kitchenette and failed to conduct patrols or check the container, and his colleague was fast asleep.

The judge found that the soldiers were so distracted that “for almost three hours the thieves operated undisturbed, making repeated trips [to and from the container], and even transported drugs to a garage in Żebbuġ before returning to Safi to continue the heist as if they knew nobody was watching”.

The theft was only discovered later that night during a routine patrol of the facility.

The AFM launched disciplinary action against soldiers who failed to prevent a massive heist.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Matthew Xuereb, Marion Camilleri, Amadeus Cachia, Andreana Zammit appeared for the accused.

Police inspector Mark Anthony Mercieca, Alfredo Mangion and Jeffrey Scicluna Briffa prosecuted along with Attorney General lawyer Francesca Spiteri.