A man was fined Lm600 after a court found him guilty of possessing heroin but not of intending to traffic the drug although the court said it had its doubts on whether the heroin was for his personal use.

Roderick Cilia, 24, from Zejtun, was found guilty of possessing four sachets of heroin on 3 September 2001 when the police stopped him following several days in investigations and surveillance.

The court heard how when he was approached by the police, he resisted his arrest and even tried to swallow the sachets.

Handing down his judgement, Magistrate Lawrence Quintano said the amount of heroin found – 0.9 grams – was a considerable amount and three of the sachets were of practically equal weight.

The magistrate said that the defendant’s explanation that he had just purchased the heroin earlier that day was plausible and accepts it at least on a basis of probability. However, he said the court still has lurking doubts on Cilia’s intent to traffic the drug. He fined him Lm600 and ordered him to pay Lm132 in court expenses.

Police Inspector Josric Mifsud prosecuted.