A man arrested last week following a drugs raid that yielded some nine kilos of cannabis and was remanded in custody upon his arraignment, regained his personal freedom on Friday following a fresh request for bail.

Josef Majri, a 22-year-old Tarxien employee, had been arrested during the raid which had followed a surveillance operation by the Drugs Squad after a tip-off as to the man’s possible involvement in drug trafficking.

The suspect had been arrested while driving a car that was registered in the name of a third party. Some three kilos of cannabis grass were found inside the vehicle.

The search had progressed to a garage to which the suspect held the key where another six kilos of the drug were discovered by the officers involved in the raid.

At last week’s arraignment, the man had pleaded not guilty to aggravated possession of cannabis under circumstances indicating that the drug was not for his personal use.

A request for bail had been turned down by the court in view of the gravity of the offence, the fact that investigations were still ongoing and the risk of tampering with evidence.

As proceedings continued, a number of witnesses testified, including the owner of the garage who said that he had leased the property to a third party.

Following the hearing of such evidence and after being informed that the accused had cooperated with the police, the court, presided over by magistrate Doreen Clarke, upheld the fresh bail request against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €5,000 and an order to sign the bail book once a week. 

Inspector Justine Grech is prosecuting. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia are defence counsel.