Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1094338
6 MATTHEW AGIUS A man accused of conspir- ing to traffic 90 capsules of cocaine in 2013 has been cleared by a jury of his peers in a trial that took more than a week to conclude and which saw almost five hours of de- liberation. Edward Cardona, 36, of St Paul's Bay stood accused of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and possession of cocaine in circumstances which de- noted that it was not solely for his personal use, over a 2013 drugs bust at the Malta International Airport. Judge Giovanni Grixti, pre- siding the Criminal Court, and a panel of nine jurors heard how, in July 2013, Drugs Squad police had ar- rested a woman at the air- port and found a number of capsules containing approx- imately one kilogramme of what was later confirmed to be cocaine to be in her pos- session. Customs officials had found the woman to have concealed a number of capsules in a contracep- tive inside her body. She was escorted to Mater Dei Hospital where her stom- ach was X-rayed, identifying other capsules which she had swallowed. 73 capsules were recovered from her person, containing a total of 901grams of cocaine with a street value of €57,513. It emerged that this drug courier had been tasked with carrying the drug by a Nigerian man in Spain called "Obi." The prosecu- tion allege that the courier was to link up with Edward Cardona in Malta for the sale of the drugs, who had already agreed on the opera- tion with Obi. This transaction had sub- sequently been successfully concluded, according to the Bill of Indictment, which asked the Cardona to be im- prisoned for life. The woman - whose name cannot be published by court order - and who had been found guilty, in sepa- rate proceedings, of import- ing cocaine on three sepa- rate occasions back in 2012 and 2013, testified to having recognised the accused in photos presented by investi- gating police officers. However, the witness had failed to recognised the ac- cused during the compila- tion of evidence before the magistrate only to recognise the man again during and had recognised him during the trial by jury. The woman recounted how she was arrested at the airport in July 2013 and had co-operated with the police, releasing a statement stating she had come to Malta on previous occasions, includ- ing December 2012, when she gave drugs to a "tall, fat, bald man who resembled the Adams Family's Uncle Fester", who she recognised in one of the six photos she had been shown. She had confirmed her statement under oath and the accused was arraigned in 2013. In what turned out to be lengthy submissions, the Defence criticised the fact that, according to the same witness, the Police had shown her one photo of the accused prior to asking her to choose a photo out of six to identify the person she had met in December 2012. This, claimed the Defence, "contaminated" the whole identification process, and would lead to a miscarriage of justice, especially in light of the inconsistency shown recognising the accused. It also criticised the fact that no identification parade had been conducted, insisting therefore, that the entire process was inadequate and vitiated. The Jury found Cardona not guilty of conspiring to traffic cocaine by seven votes to two, and unani- mously dismissed the sec- ond charge. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel. Nadia Attard and Anemarie Cutajar from the Attorney General's office prosecuted. maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 MARCH 2019 NEWS Alleged cocaine mule handler acquitted following week- long trial MATTHEW VELLA COSTA Coffee has stopped using plastic drinking straws in all of its 12 stores across Malta, in a bid to cut down on single-use plastic and help conserve the environment. The popular coffee house has introduced straws made of an eco-friendly 'green' material known as bio-plast, now only available with certain drinks or by request – as opposed to being added to all customer condiment units as standard. Made from a thermoplastic material that primarily con- tains biologically-sourced raw materials, the bio-plast straws are fully eco-certified, as well completely biodegradable and compostable. The environmentally-fo- cused change comes as Costa Malta seeks to cut the amount of avoidable plastic waste it generates. "We estimate that, by mak- ing these changes at Costa, we will save the environment from having to accommodate between 350,000 and 400,000 single-use plastic straws every year. That's huge," said Chris- tina Galea, Costa Malta gen- eral manager. "We're really pleased we are able to potentially make such a huge impact with such a seemingly small change – and we hope we can inspire our customers to do the same in terms of avoiding single-use plastic." The plastic straws shake- up is just one of many ways in which Costa Malta hopes to steadily reduce its use of single-use plastic throughout the franchise. The coffee com- pany's commitment to help- ing to save the environment is part of the bigger picture of the work of its charity, The Costa Foundation. The Costa Foundation aims to improve the lives of chil- dren in coffee-growing com- munities by ensuring safe, quality education, with a long-term goal of eradicating poverty in these communities. Coffee giant bids farewell to plastic straw The new bio-plast straws are fully eco-certified