Convicted criminal Alfred Bugeja – most commonly known as il-Porporina – is on hunger strike and has not eaten since Saturday morning. He claims that he gave a urine sample in hospital which showed he was clean, yet the same test performed in prison showed that he had used heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Bugeja, 57, has a criminal record as long as his arm and has 52 previous convictions on a rap sheet 49 pages long. The crimes he has committed range from fraud, petty theft, aggravated theft to armed robbery and violent behaviour. He phoned up this newsroom himself yesterday and said that the prison authorities were singling him and others out for harsh treatment.

Speaking about the drug test, Bugeja said he gave a urine sample at hospital and said he saw the results, which were negative. “I have a certificate that shows this. But when the same test was done in prison, it resulted positive for cocaine, heroin and smoke (cannabis),” he said.

Bugeja said: “I haven’t touched any drugs.” He added: “When Prison Director Simon Buttigieg found out that I tested positive (according to prison but not according to hospital) I lost my privileges which include family visits by my daughter and seeing my wife who is also an inmate here.” He is currently being held in Division 12. Bugeja is adamant that he has not taken any drugs. “Prison Director Simon Buttigieg is discriminating against me and others. I am ready to give a written statement about the whole situation before a magistrate in a sworn declaration,” he said.

Asked to give examples of the alleged acts of discrimination, Bugeja was very quick to reply. “When the mother of a particular prisoner was dying, the Director would not allow him to leave the prison, but on the other hand another inmate was allowed to leave the compound to visit his family and returned drunk and provoked prison guards,” he said.

Turning back to his hunger strike, Bugeja said: “The last time I ate was on Saturday at 11.30am. I only drank coffee and as from yesterday I even stopped drinking. I have stayed in my cell at all times.”

He continued: “The nurse that usually comes to distribute pills to inmates found that my blood pressure is high but my sugar levels are fine.”

The Home Affairs Ministry said: “Alfred Bugeja is on hunger strike because he tested positive for drugs. As a result all his privileges were lost: Contact visits twice a week, visits behind perspex once a week and getting food from home.” Sources told this newsroom that Bugeja’s state of health is “frail”.

A look at (a few of) Porporina’s capers and brushes with the law

Alfred Bugeja is a career criminal. His most recent convictions include a seven-year stint in 2010 after a jury panel found him guilty of stealing a car and its contents – including a shotgun – back in 2010. He said he was nowhere near the car and had nothing to do with the theft. When he was asked to explain how his fingerprint was found on the car, he said “the police have machines which can transport fingerprints anywhere”.

Another conviction in 2012 was on appeal in connection with the attempted robbery of the University Mid-Med Bank branch.

Another Porporina caper transpired in 2009 after he was found guilty of robbing a 65year-old woman of her bags and then leading the police on a frantic car chase in Valletta. He ended up driving up a one-way street and was eventually surrounded by officers and arrested. In that court case, Bugeja had alleged police brutality and discrimination. He at first refused to be represented by a lawyer, saying: “It would not be worth it coming to court... the expenses... I would rather just plead guilty”.

He complained to the court that the police had not treated him fairly while he was being interrogated and failed to mention that they were also going to charge him with breaching the conditions of three previous releases.

The prosecution rebutted and said Bugeja was caught redhanded, “so how much more proof could you want than that?” He eventually pleaded guilty and was jailed five years and five months.

Back in 2008, he was also investigated and charged in connection with a drug find in Catania that was destined for Malta. He was charged with other inmates at the CCF who were suspected of being the masterminds behind the deal. The case has not yet come to trial, but in a pinch of irony, in a court case back in 2008, he had kicked up a stink before magistrate Carol Peralta. On the day, the heat was stifling and there was a huge security presence in court due to the ‘heavyweights’ sitting accused in the dock. Bugeja had made a plea to the court to speak, and he said that he and his co-accused were all feeling faint, because they had not eaten that morning and were all on the verge of passing out because of, you guessed it, hunger.

Yet then again, while Bugeja might be a convicted thief and a conman, he has often been seen in court being a sport and a bit of a Jiminy Cricket with younger and greener inmates. On one occasion, he intervened when an accused nearly lost his temper. Just outside the press room, he grabbed him by the neck, pulled him away from Prison Security staff and told him to calm down ( with a few expletives for added effect). He then pushed him into a seat, told him to shut up and behave and handed the situation back to the SRT. On another occasion, he told a young man accused of theft and break- ins to “man up” and not let his parents see him crying.