A 59-year-old Nadur man, who is charged with trafficking cannabis, has claimed that the declaration he had signed was invented by the police and that he had been forced to sign it. Paul Muscat, a part-time farmer from Nadur, is also being charged with cultivating and possessing 19 kilograms of cannabis.

The accused told the Court that a policeman had hit him in the face and on the chest during a search conducted at his home. He also claimed that, during the interrogation, one of the policemen had insulted him and that he had been told that he wouldn’t be allowed to leave until he admitted everything.

He also reiterated that he knew nothing about the drugs and denied that he had thrown away a box from his residence. He added that the police had not opened the sack in which the drugs were found in front of him, but had only opened it at the police station.

Dr. Joseph Brincat, appearing for the defendant, told the Court that there was no proof that his client was trafficking or conspiring to traffick the drugs, as the police did not know of anyone else who had been involved or who had purchased the drugs.

Furthermore, he said, there was also no evidence that the sticks that had been found in the field were derived from the cannabis plants, as chemical tests had not been carried out since there were no leaves.

Dr Brincat also pointed out that no tests had been carried out to identify finger prints on the tanks, and therefore these could have easily been placed in the field by someone else since access was not difficult.