Lawyers for an Italian from Salerno who is charged with bringing into Malta a kilo of marijuana are appealing for public support in Italy to resist an extradition plea from Malta.

Raffaele Sica, 49, was arrested in Salerno by an Italian police squad on a European arrest warrant begun by Malta.

But his lawyer, Federico Cioffi, has appealed for public support against the extradition request because the charge, which in Italy could lead to a few years in jail only, in Malta could lead to a longer and possibly life imprisonment, the lawyer said.

The lawyer said that Maltese law does not distinguish between light and heavy drugs and practices zero tolerance where drug trafficking is concerned.

“Had it happened in Italy, he would not even have been arrested,” the lawyer said. The Maltese investigators came to know his name from a person who bought drugs from him. “For us Italians, that someone could end up in prison on this kind of proof is already abnormal. And this happened back in 2012.”

The Italian police from Salerno were acting on a European search warrant issued in Malta on 18 September. They found Raffaele Sica at home, where he lives with his mother. He was taken to the local prison and he now awaits the decision by the Appeals Court on the extradition request.

Maltese law, the Italian lawyer said, carries a prison sentence of one to three years plus a fine for simple possession of drugs but it makes no distinction between light and heavy drugs.

But if the charge is drug trafficking, the penalty ranges from a minimum of four years to a maximum of life imprisonment. The fact that the Italian is charged with having brought in more than a kilo of drugs could lead the Maltese court to impose the highest prison sentence, the Italian lawyer told La Citta di Salerno.