A 34-year-old man was jailed for three years and fined Lm300, after he was found guilty of possessing heroin, which was not for his own use, in a bar near the Detox Centre at G’Mangia.

Anthony Frendo, from Mosta, was also found guilty of being in possession of the drug less than 100 metres from the Detox centre on, and before 9 August 2001, and breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence, as well as relapsing.

In handing down his judgement, magistrate Lawrence Quintano considered that the police found the man in a bar near the Detox Centre with eight sachets containing heroin, in almost equal amounts, under his chair. Although the man denied that he owned the packets, they were similar to others found in Frendo’s residence. The police also appropriated other objects related to heroin abuse. Frendo admitted that he had been taking the drug.

Magistrate Quintano said that the way in which the drug was divided, and the place in which Frendo was apprehended, showed that his intent was to sell heroin near a place where a lot of people, many of whom were under age, went to receive treatment to overcome their drug dependency. He also took into account that Frendo was apprehended during the operative term of a two-year jail sentence suspended for four years.

It was also pointed out that the Head of the Sedqa Drug Rehabilitation Centre had testified that Frendo entered a rehabilitation programme and assessed his progress as satisfactory.

Police Inspector Norbert Ciappara led the prosecution.