Five people were arrested by the police in connection with a drug bust in Marsa.

In a statement on Wednesday, the police said that it had identified a key suspect – a 53-year-old man from Gzira – who was using a horse stable in Triq in-Nagħal as a base for drug trafficking.

The police raided the stable on Tuesday and arrested five men: the 53-year-old, a 26-year-old man from Cospicua, two 38-year-old men from Marsaskala and Kalkara respectively, and a 43-year-old man from Qormi.

A search on site resulted in the finding of around 60 packets of a substance suspected to be heroin which were ready to be sold, and a separate amount of heroin which was found in such a manner that it appeared to be ready to be split into packets.

Another 160 packets of synthetic drugs and a further amount of the same synthetic drugs were found ready to be split into packets.

The street value of the drugs found is of around €10,000, police said.

The 26-year-old and two 38-year-olds were charged under arrest before Magistrate Leonard Caruana on Wednesday.  They pleaded not guilty but were remanded in custody.