Woman jailed for seven years for trying to smuggle cannabis into Malta
32-year-old Spanish national was caught with kilos of cannabis at the airport
A 32-year-old woman was jailed for seven years and fined €15,000 after pleading guilty to attempting to smuggle some 13 kilograms of cannabis grass into Malta.
Spanish national Marta Martín Dañobeitia was intercepted by police at Malta International Airport and entered a guilty plea in court last month.
The case dates back to October, 2020, when a Spanish couple was stopped during routine screening of passengers.
The pair had just disembarked from a flight from Seville. Their luggage was passed through an X-ray machine, which discovered the presence of 13 suspicious plastic bags.
In court, it emerged that Dañobeitia was carrying seven bags of cannabis grass weighing 6.89kg while Juan José Fernández López was carrying 5.94kg of cannabis grass.
A court-appointed expert determined that the 12.83kg of cannabis grass had an estimated street value of €243,770. Forensic evidence of López’s handling of the packages was found on the bags in both luggage bags.
The police tried to carry out a controlled delivery of the drugs, but no buyer turned up.
The pair were subsequently arrested and charged with conspiring to traffic cannabis grass, importing the drugs and being in possession of cannabis in circumstances that denoted it was not for personal use.
López faced additional charges of importing and possessing cocaine after he was found in possession of the drug. Proceedings against López are still ongoing.
Before Dañobeitia pleaded guilty in July 2025, the attorney general and defence filed a joint application requesting that should she plead guilty, the court would hand down a sentence of seven years imprisonment and a €15,000 fine, excluding court fees.
The parties asked the court to take into account the assistance to police provided by the accused during their investigation.
The court took into consideration that a guilty plea was entered before a jury was convened.
While plea bargaining is not binding on the court, it agreed to the proposed sentence and jailed the woman for seven years and fined her €15,000. The woman was also ordered to pay €2,070.87 in court expenses.
The court ordered the confiscation of her assets but stopped short of ordering the destruction of the drugs due to them being needed in the criminal proceedings against López.
Madam Justice Natasha Galea Sciberras presided over the Criminal Court.