200kg Of Cannabis Hidden Among Fruit Found By Maltese Police
The Drug Squad have confirmed that they confiscated around 200kg of cannabis last night and arrested three people in connection with the attempted importation.
Around 100kg of cannabis hash and another 100kg of what they suspect to be cannabis flower were found hidden in two vans, hidden among a boxes of various fruits that included watermelons and rock melons.
Two Sicilian people, aged 30 and 31, and a 28-year-old man who lives in San Gwann, were also arrested. They are being kept in custody to help police in their investigations and may face accusations of importation and drug trafficking.
“The situation as it is, is far more dangerous than legalisation and regulation itself” – ReLeaf
Reacting to the news of the drug bust, pro-cannabis group ReLeaf have said this is a symptom of a broken policy.
“A seizure like this shows the importance of legalising cannabis and regulating it as this will only increase the prevalence of synthetic drugs in the market which are far more dangerous than the substance itself.”
This seizure will, ironically, also make local drug dealers more money since less product will be available for the thousands of Maltese consumers on the island: “Additionally the price might rise and this will add to financial stresses of users,” said the group.
The group called for a change in law to address the issue of cannabis trafficking into the island.
“As long as it is still illegal, the police have no other choice but to confiscate any cannabis they find, so we do not encourage people to break the laws. However, with the situation as it is, it is far more dangerous than legalisation and regulation itself. We must act and change this system for the safety of our children,” they said.
“One dealer drops and another one starts tomorrow” – Malta Cannabis Social Club
Another pro-cannabis group, the Malta Cannabis Social Club, has said that seizures like this do not address the real issue.
“The people that were arrested were just the runners, the middle men – they aren’t the drug kingpins. Imbilli they caught these guys – one drops today and there will be another who starts tomorrow. If they’ve done this big run now, they’ll do it again in the future,” they said
The group did hope for one thing to come from the confiscation: “Let’s just hope the weed they caught was the low quality stuff.”
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