A Mosta man was jailed for four-and-a-half years yesterday and fined e931.75 after he was found guilty of trafficking and being in possession of heroin during the operative period of a suspended jail sentence.

Tony Armando Zahra, 32, denied that he dealt in drugs but admitted to the police that he had been using heroin for the past 12 years.

Police had apprehended two men, an Arab and a Maltese, who testified that they had purchased

heroin from Zahra.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano, presiding over the court, said that Zahra had already been given a last chance to reform when he was handed a two-year jail sentence suspended for four years. Consequently, he jailed Zahra for four-and-a-half years.