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‘El Chapo Ta’ Malta’: How A Missing Pomeranian Brought Down The Island’s Most Wanted Drug Lord

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A suspected drug-trafficking, counterfeit cash-using Maltese kingpin with over 40 employees and a network spanning multiple countries has been caught after losing his pet Pomeranian in Xemxija.

Jordan Azzopardi, who was Malta’s most wanted criminal up until his capture last week and calls himself “El Chapo ta’ Malta” because of the sheer amount of drugs he has produced (as well as his penchant for last-minute escapes), is in court facing a slew of charges.

He is being accused of over 15 crimes, including drug trafficking, the aggravated possession of heroin, cocaine and cannabis, circulation of counterfeit money, criminal conspiracy, making threats, being in possession of an unlicensed weapon, hurting a third party, breaching bail, and defrauding three shops.

The 29-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all accusations as he was charged in court today, but the story of how police captured their number one target is wilder than you’d expect, and involves everything from a tiny fluffy dog to a McDonald’s parking lot.

Jordan Azzopardi

Jordan Azzopardi

Police had previously attempted to capture Malta’s most wanted, but Azzopardi had evaded them each time

Indeed, his position at the top of Malta’s most wanted list seems apparent when you look into just how much infrastructure the man had put into evading the police, as well as his reputation for producing lots of cocaine.

He allegedly has multiple properties around the island – and they weren’t just normal apartments either. They were decked out with fake walls, hard-to-penetrate steel doors, CCTV, stone barricades, and – get this – entire vats of acid to throw the heroin and cocaine in, just in case, according to the Times of Malta.

Police first tried to raid a property of his back in Birkirkara in 2013

Raids in Balzan, Birkirkara, Marsa, Pieta, Blata l-Bajda and Gżira were all held in an attempt to find Azzopardi. However, he evaded police on at least four different occasions.

At the same time, though, each raid gave officers more and more evidence and new witnesses as they compiled a case against Azzopardi.

One person who was arrested during raids described how Azzopardi had pulled a knife on him and hit him with it, while another said he was violent towards his employees as well as drug users.

Indeed, some of Malta’s most recent raids were made in an attempt to capture Azzopardi or gain evidence in his case

So how did police finally nab him?

To put it simply: he lost his pet dog and posted on Facebook asking people for help finding his pet Pomeranian, setting off a chain of events, according to One News.

The same guy who was allegedly building stone barricades alongside vats of acid made the rookie mistake of telling social media he had lost his dog in the Xemxija/Madliena area, offering a €5,000 reward to anyone who finds it.

His Facebook post alerted the police to the area, and they began honing in, according to ONE News, who quoted insider police sources.

Screenshot 2019 03 20 At 16 09 18

El Chapo ta’ Malta’s downfall

Soon after posting on Facebook, he went on a shopping spree in Sliema using fake money

An arrest warrant was issued as police continued to surveil Azzopardi, until they received a report that he was using counterfeit money in a number of Sliema shops.

Police located him in Sliema, in a black car with a license plate reading JMS-511. He was with his girlfriend, and another male passenger at the time.

They were followed as they made various purchases around Sliema, always paying with €100 counterfeit notes. He was followed to the Għargħur McDonald’s parking lot when the order for his arrest was issued.

He was arrested in the McDonald’s parking area. As he was being handcuffed he briefly escaped for a moment, but was quickly re-apprehended.

His girlfriend was followed back in the car to their €4,000-a-month Madliena residence, where police searched the property.

When police searched his Madliena villa and adjacent garage, they discovered everything from drug paraphernalia to numerous laptops, weapons and cash.

However, between the jars of cannabis, piles of cash (about €600 were found), a knuckleduster and fake banknotes, officers found a keychain that read “Ta’ Liberat”.

Ta’ Liberat is an area in the limits of Mġarr and Wardija, and is part of the larger area of San Martin.

More importantly, police had previously observed Azzopardi entering a farmhouse in that area.
When police asked him about the keychain, he said it belonged to a garage that was on a friend’s property.

Shortly after the Għargħur raid, and while in police custody, Azzopardi was taken to hospital after he was injured when falling down some stairs according to police. After he was discharged from hospital, he was taken directly to the building in Ta’ Liberat with a police escort.

Inside the residence, more drug paraphernalia, as well as bottles of ammonia, were found besides some burnt foil, gun ammunition and a sock with the name ‘Jordan’ knitted into it.

Bahrija Drug Lab

The Ta’ Liberat property

Azzopardi rose to the top of Malta’s most wanted list after police grew alarmed at how quickly he managed to build a wide network at such a young age

The Maltese El Chapo, who would often be seen driving an expensive car with a license plate reading ‘Jordan TwentyThree’, had also appeared on the Italian secret service’s radar.

He was allegedly involved in a counterfeit money ring with members of the Camorra, a mafia ring based in Napoli, Italy.

And the Sliema spree was far from his first – Azzopardi was arrested a while back after he and two others had gone on another shopping spree in Gozo using counterfeit money. After going to multiple outlets, the police finally caught the trio, and even found Azzopardi’s notebook with all the stores he had used counterfeit money in, listed neatly.

But his alleged main source of income and his area of expertise was when it came to smuggling hard drugs like crack, cocaine and heroin.

He had up to 40 people working for him in a large-scale operation that involved everything from manufacturing to the processing of sachets of the drugs in several traphouses around the island.

Azzopardi, 66-year-old Mario Abdilla, and a mother of five are now in custody and will plea their case in courts.

Today’s sitting marks the beginning of his trial, which is being presided over by Magistrate Doreen Clarke. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi is representing Mr Azzopardi, while lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin are appearing for the accused.

Jordan Azzopardi did not request bail.

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READ NEXT: ‘At 19 I Was Sent To Jail As A Drug Trafficker For Giving 8 Joints To My Friends’

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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