Drug deal gone wrong: court hears of police sting in 2010 heroin case

A key witness in a drug conspiracy trial and his alleged associate were on Friday taken to the Birżebbuġa site where a heroin deal eleven years ago was foiled by a police sting operation. 

The onsite visit wrapped up a long day in the ongoing trial of Kenneth Duru, a 43-year old Nigerian national who stands accused of heroin trafficking. 

Duru was arrested at a Birzebbuga playground in June 2010 after he met with a plainclothes police officer impersonating a drug courier. 

The undercover sting was organised after police intercepted a 19-year-old Spanish national at the airport carrying 1kg of heroin one day earlier. 

Justo Ernesto Bellver Bayo was caught after airport officials noted that he was wearing “unusually heavy” shoes. The drugs were found hidden inside them.

Bayo had decided to cooperate with police in a controlled delivery which led to the arrest of Duru and his alleged associate Theophilus Nwadike.

Nwadike pleaded guilty to charges last year, forgoing a trial by jury and instead being sentenced to an eight-year jail term and a €25,000 fine following a plea bargaining exercise upheld by the court. 

Nwadike testified in Duru’s trial on Friday and was later taken to the...