LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Criminal Court in Malta found guilty four Malta Freeport employees over the theft of a container filled with 10.5 million cigarettes in 2015. The container contained 1,050 cases with 10,000 cigarettes each which were valued at €304,500. At that time, the sale of the cigarettes should have netted €1,666,875 in excise duty, €175,392 in import duties and €386,418.06 in VAT. The four employees were jailed and find almost 6.7 million each following two separate criminal proceedings. A third (€2,228,685) is being considered civil damages that should be paid to the Customs Department.
Security officer Christopher Calleja, a 59-year-old Valletta resident was jailed for 4 years, while haulier Malcolm Zammit, a 44-year-old from Qormi, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Customs officer Sebastian Zammit, a 67-year-old from Safi, and Freeport employee Roderick Borg, a 40-year-old from Qormi, were jailed for three years and two years respectively. The container arrived in Malta on 24 July 2015, which was taken out of the Freeport and returned to its original location within a couple of hours: which were replaced by bricks. The container was not intended for Malta: the Malta Freeport is primarily a transhipment hub, with the vast majority of unloaded cargo ending up loaded onto another vessel.
(ITALPRESS).
-photo credit Maltese customs-

Source: medNews