Two major drug finds were repored by the police this month which are worth highlighting.

The first was reported in the news on 6 August. Packets of cocaine worth €11 million were found hidden at the bottom of a ship at the Malta Freeport. The police said that 97 kilos of the drug were sealed in plastic and placed in a compartment at the bottom of the vessel. They were located by divers who were appointed by the agents of the vessel to carry out a surprise search.

This particular find shows just how creative drug smugglers are becoming, and how on the ball the authorities need to be in order to ensure that they are caught.

In this scenario, the authorities did a great job in finding the drugs. Drug smuggling would, of course, involve people from other countries, and catching such criminals would require good cooperation between different law enforcement agencies spread across different countries.

Another bust occurred on 13 August. Here, the police said that two Italians and an Albanian who allegedly form part of an organised crime group, were arrested over alleged drug trafficking. The police said they gathered information that a drug transfer was to allegedly take place in Malta. The police began observing a vehicle in which one of the Italians was seated. After some time, the police surrounded the vehicle in St Paul’s Bay and from the search of a bag, ten packets amounting to 10kg of a substance believed to be cocaine was found. The police continued observations on the two others, and they were arrested shortly after. The police had said that the drugs found amounted to over €1.3 million on the market.

It is unclear whether the police have already charged the men in court, but if they have, then the court process will take its course. If charged, they will eventually be found innocent or guilty.

Without going into the details of either situation and referring just to the amounts of drugs found in these two instances, one must comment that they are not small.

Keep in mind these finds were just a week apart. One wonders how many illicit substances are passing through which are undetected.

The police and other authorities must, first and foremost, be praised for the work they have done so far. But if such large amounts are being found, then one has to question just how big the problem is. On this note, the police and relevant authorities should be given all the resources they need to investigate further and uncover just serious a problem smuggling is in Malta.