A drug trafficker was jailed for two years yesterday, and had a two-year suspended jail term converted to effective imprisonment, after he was found guilty of trafficking heroin in 2004.

Christopher Cassar, 28, from Zabbar, was found guilty of trafficking and possessing heroin on and before 19 August 2004 as well as of committing the crimes within 100 metres of a school or club or a venue frequented by young people and breaching a suspended jail term.

The court, presided over by magistrate Jacqueline Padovani, heard police inspector Dennis Theuma explain how on 19 August 2004, following several days of investigation and surveillance, the Drug Squad had carried out a raid on a house in Santa Domenika Street in Zabbar, after receiving anonymous tip-offs that drug trafficking was taking place there.

He explained that, minutes before the search, the police had noticed a man leaving this house who, when stopped by police, was found in possession of a sachet of brown substance later identified as heroin. This man immediately told police that Cassar had sold him the heroin for Lm10.

The court was told that, during the search at Cassar’s house, the police had found no drugs but had found several items related to drug trafficking, including syringes, citric acid and burnt foil.

In a statement released to the police, Cassar admitted that he was a drug addict and that the items the police found in his bedroom were his.

Testifying in court, the man who was caught soon after he had purchased heroin from the accused, said he had purchased drugs from the accused on other occasions. When asked where he used to meet Cassar, the man said that sometimes he went to Cassar’s house in Zabbar and on other occasions he met him in the Zabbar playground.

The court heard another man testifying that he used to purchase drugs from two people, one of whom was the accused.

Magistrate Padovani jailed Cassar for two years, less the time he had spent in preventive arrest, and fined him Lm1,000. Moreover, she converted the two-year suspended jail sentence handed down in 2001 into an effective jail term.

The magistrate said that the court had no option but to jail the accused because Cassar had not taken the opportunity to kick the drug addiction habit. She therefore recommended that while in jail, Cassar begins a drug rehabilitation programme.