A record breaking 800kg of cocaine intercepted by Malta Customs

Apr 7 2022

Malta Customs has, once again, succeeded in blocking a huge amount of cocaine from reaching the streets. Due to high purity, the street value of the cocaine intercepted is estimated at 108.2 million euro.

In a long operation, that spanned from Wednesday morning till late Thursday afternoon, Customs Officials, stationed at the Freeport Scanning facility, intercepted and seized a record breaking 800kg of cocaine hidden in a 40ft reefer container.

The container was selected by the Customs Container Monitoring Unit following intelligence received and a meticulous risk assessment on containers transiting through Malta’s Freeport. The container was then screened, along several other containers, by Customs officials stationed at the Scanning Facility and flagged some discrepancies in scan.

The cargo was en-route from the port of Turbo, in Columbia, to the port of Mersin, in Turkey, with a refrigerated payload of 1,200 boxes of bananas. The Officials, together with members from the Malta Police Drug Squad who were called on scene, opened the reefer and started physically inspecting all the boxes and, subsequently, elevated 800 packets of a white substance hidden in 26 boxes which gave a positive indication for high purity cocaine.

The packets carried a net weight of 1kg each and were concealed within the boxes of fruit. However, the difference in density and consistency was immediately flagged by the scanning officials.

Last year, in a similar bust, the Customs Department made a record breaking haul of 740 packages, totaling at 740kg of cocaine, worth 100 million euro, also hidden in boxes of banana.

Today’s seizure is historical both in its size and in its street value, which has been estimated at 108.2 million euro.

The Customs Department has been breaking its cocaine seizure records, year on year, with 2019 recording a total of 750kg (in 13 separate seizures), 2020: 612kg (in 1 seizure), 2021:740kg (in 1 seizure) and 2022: 800kg (in 1 seizure) .

The case was handed over to the Malta Police Drug Force, for further investigation, and duty Magistrate Marsianne Farrugia is leading the inquiry.

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Maltese rugby needs your support to grasp a season victory

Apr 7 2022

Malta’s rugby needs your support as they are up to face Cyprus during their next match on the 16th of April for their season finale.

Malta are set to take on their rivals at the Tony Bezzina Stadium as the Rugby Europe Conference 1 South comes to a close. The Maltese team are currently in second place, but need your motivation to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat.

The team gave it their best, but the match ended at 7-3 for the Croatians. The Maltese will be regrouping to take on Cyprus very soon, and your support would give them the necessary boost needed on the pitch.

Sales for tickets for the next match are already up for grabs. The team have been practicing tirelessly for the past pre-season and season. Victory is within their grasp, and it could be made a reality through the backing.

You can buy your tickets here.

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Ex-Spider Man director would love to make a fourth film with Tobey Maguire

Apr 7 2022

The iconic Marvel director Sam Raimi, who was at the helm of the first classic Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, expressed interest in making a fourth instalment of the franchise after so many years.

The comments, which are sure to get Marvel and Spidey fans up in a frenzy, told entertainment outlets that he would love to continue telling the story of that Spider-Man universe.

Raimi is often considered the godfather of the modern superhero blockbuster following his work on the Maguire trilogy. And after the [SPOILER ALERT] appearance of Tobey Maguire in ‘No Way Home’, it seems as though some flames were rekindled.

He said that he loves Tobey, and that he loves Kirsten Dunst, who played Mary Jane in the original trilogy. ‘I think all things are possible’ he said.

Raimi is currently the director for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and expressed how directing in the MCU is like playing with the world’s best toy box. He said that following No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness, any team up is possible in the MCU.

He did admit that he had no story in mind as of yet for the fourth film, or whether or not Marvel is even interested. But a fourth film had been in the works following Spider-Man 3, so some material could be readily available.

No Way Home proved to be a massive success after it had the sixth-highest box office grossing of all time, bringing together current Spider-Man Tom Holland alongside Maguire and other beloved Peter Parker actor Andrew Garfield.

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Janice Chetcuti gives up casual election to make way for other PN candidates

Apr 7 2022

Nationalist Party candidate Janice Chetcuti has decided to drop out of the casual election race on the third district so as to allow other contestants a chance at a seat in parliament.

Chetcuti explained in a Facebook post that she would still make it into parliament through the gender quota and will therefore allow the seat vacated by Stephen Spiteri to be filled up by one of three remaining candidates. These are John Baptist Camilleri, Errol Cutajar or Carm Mifsud Bonnici. The PN has three MPs from the third district.

She explained how ‘out of loyalty to the Nationalist party and to all the constituents that form part of the third district, and after much thought I have decided not to contest the casual elections to maximise the use of votes in the third district as a party, thus electing three representatives.’

Chetcuti ranks at the top of the PN’s list of female candidates after getting the largest percentage of the quota. She will therefore be one of the six women to make it to parliament through the new gender parity mechanism. She managed to get 2,687 votes, which is around 75% of the quota.

At the last count, Baptist Camilleri had 1,634 votes, Cutajar had 476 votes and Mifsud Bonnici had 1,122 votes.

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