A Maltese man arrested in Libya had been flagged for suspected criminal activity by the local authorities several months ago. 

Jesmond Vella, 45, known as Il-Bulgaru, was arrested in the western coastal city of Zuwarah on suspicion of human smuggling and drug trafficking on April 5.

The operation was carried out by the Rada Special Deterrence Forces following a tip-off on his whereabouts from a Libyan arrested a few days earlier. 

Vella, sources said, is well known to local law enforcement and is suspected to be a player in the trafficking of shipments of cannabis resin using the same criminal networks employed by gangs that facilitate migration flows across the Mediterranean Sea.

The sources said Maltese law enforcement agencies were cooperating with their Libyan counterparts, sharing intelligence on narcotics activity in the region for several months.

Information identifying Vella as a person of interest had been passed over to Libya several months ago, they said.

Back in 2016, Vella was named as a police informer in a trial against two men accused of operating a large cannabis trafficking operation in Xemxija.

Although the prosecution did not confirm his identity, the defence lawyers for two men accused of importing several kilos of cannabis resin repeatedly referred to him as the person who had spoken.

Godfrey Gambin and Libyan national Adel Mohammed Babani were eventually acquitted by a jury in 2020.

Meanwhile, Vella’s wife has raised concerns over the Maltese authorities showing an apparent lack of willingness to intervene in the matter. 

She has described her husband’s arrest as a kidnapping and warned that he may never return home.

The sources told Times of Malta they were in touch with Libyan counterparts over the matter. Vella, they said, would face due process in Libya.

They added that there was no interest in intervening to have Vella extradited to Malta at this time.  

The Maltese ambassador to Libya, Charles Saliba said Vella has not yet been formally charged with any crimes. While there was no evidence to support claims that Vella may have been mistreated, Saliba said he was monitoring developments.