Drug trafficker's jail sentence halved on appeal

A convicted drug trafficker whose original prison sentence was far harsher than that of a fellow trafficker arrested that same day under similar circumstances has had his jail term halved on appeal. 

Stephen Borg, 41, was found guilty of cocaine trafficking in 2015, in a case that had stemmed from a drugs raid at his Birkirkara home back in 2009.

District police officers, alerted to suspicious comings and goings at the residence on Naxxar Road, had set up a surveillance operation that ultimately led to the raid. Police found several people and drug paraphernalia during that raid. The accused, however, was not present.

A magistrates’ court had convicted him of cocaine trafficking and condemned him to a six-year effective jail term as well as €8,000 fine, besides ordering him to shoulder court expert expenses totaling €3,630.12.

Mr Borg had filed an appeal, arguing that he had not even been present during the raid and that while he had a drug addiction problem, this was a case of sharing drugs, not trafficking them. 

Moreover, another man whose Sta Venera home had been searched on the same day and who had faced similar criminal charges had gotten off much more leniently, with a...