Mario Borg, 31, was yesterday jailed for 21 years and fined e70,000 (Lm30,000) after he was found guilty, in a trial by jury, of importing heroin, conspiring to import heroin and possession of drugs that were not for his personal use between February and April 2003.

The jury, which started on Monday, was presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono.

After deliberating for six hours, the jurors found Borg guilty of the three charges: eight votes in favour and one against for both the first and second charges and seven votes in favour and two against for the third charge.

After the jurors pronounced their guilty verdict, defence counsel Jose Herrera requested Mr Justice Galea Debono to take note of Borg’s previous relatively clean criminal record.

Dr Herrera pointed out that, apart from driving a car without a seatbelt in April 2002, Borg’s criminal record was clean and should be considered as positive.

He also reminded the court that the two Turkish women who testified against Borg were jailed for 13 years after they admitted to their charges.

“However, it is unfortunate that we don’t know whether the jurors found Borg guilty of the first incident that took place in March or the one in April because the Attorney General combined the two incidents under one charge,” said Dr Herrera.

Furthermore, he added, there was no doubt about the involvement of the two Turkish women but there is still doubt about whether Borg was involved in both incidents.

However, the prosecution, led by Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara, told the court that no one would have known about Borg’s doings if the two women had not been caught.

“That is why he has a relatively clean criminal record as he was never caught before,” said Dr Barbara.

He reminded the court that Borg was the mind behind it all as otherwise the two women would not have been used as couriers to bring the heroin to Malta.

The prosecution also requested the court to keep in mind the profit Borg would have made after selling the drugs, which was a relatively large amount, and the damage it would have caused society.

Dr Barbara also pointed out that the two women were jailed for 13 years and fined Lm20,000 each after they cooperated with the police.

“Borg did not cooperate at all with the police and kept on insisting that he did not know the two women. We need to send out a clear message to society that these actions will not be tolerated,” he said.

In handing down his judgment, Mr Justice Galea Debono said that, as opposed to the two Turkish women who acted as couriers, Borg would have profited from selling the drugs and as a result deserved a harsher punishment.

He pointed out that the two women cooperated with the police and informed them about crimes which they had no idea about.

“However, Borg did not cooperate with the police and his punishment has to reflect the damage the drugs would have caused society,” he said.

As a result, Mr Justice Galea Debono jailed Borg for 21 years and fined him e70,000 which will be converted to another two years jail time if it is not paid.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara prosecuted while Dr Jose Herrera and Dr Roberto Montalto appeared as defence counsel for Borg.