Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515076
MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt 8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JANUARY 2024 NEWS PROBLEM drug users in Mal- ta – mainly heroin users – have systematically declined by 45% over a decade, from a high of some 1,891 in 2010 to 1,035 in 2020. Data from the island's treat- ment population, published in the 2023 National Drug Re- port, finds that the vast ma- jority of individuals in treat- ment are still primarily heroin users who also use cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy. This has resulted in a signifi- cant fall in Malta's rate – from around 6 problem drug users per 1,000 of the population, which was in the top bracket of those EU countries with such figures – to now half of that, some 3 problem drug users per 1000 and the conse- quent fall from the top ranks. "Heroin use is still present but now not a major problem for the country as the pat- tern seems to be changing," the report states. "In the first instance, the number receiv- ing opiate agonist treatment peaked in 2011 and has de- clined since then, and second- ly, the new entrants now re- port a preference for cocaine then cannabis, followed by heroin." Heroin users grow Violent criminal gets three years' jail after 20- year armed robbery case A Siggiewi man who once be- longed to a controversial clan of landowners in Baħrija, has been sentenced to three years in jail for the burglary of a restaurant and the assault of the arresting police officers, in 2003. Generoso Sammut, known as Jimmy, was acquitted of the at- tempted murder of a police ser- geant during the Qawra arrest, but was found guilty of resisting arrest with violence, causing of- fence against the arresting offi- cial, stealing over €2,300 from the Granny's Restaurant in Buġibba, threatening to run over an arrest- ing police officer and of the pos- session of a firearm. Altogether he faced 15 charges. The case dates back to 2003 when two police officers arrived on the scene of a crime at the Fra Ben area in Qawra at 3:30am, where police apprehended the masked Sammut in the course of committing a burglary. Sammut violently resisted arrest when he was stopped in his car, by first using a can of pepper spray against one of the police officers. In a tussle with Sammut, who nearly overpowered the arresting officers, one of the police officers tried in vain to take control of Sammut's revolver, so the other police officer shot at Sammut's leg, because neither officer could keep the violent man under con- trol. After his arrest, police found various items in his car such as crowbars and stolen cash. Sam- mut was also accused of trying to bribe the arresting officers with Lm10,000 (€23,000). Jimmy Sammut was one of a group of six shareholders in the controversial Eliza Company Ltd, which had laid claim over vast lands at Baħrija purchased from the estate of Baron Francesco Palmero Navarra. Farmers later reported being terrorised by the new owners to vacate the lands they had held under rental con- tracts for generations. In 2013, Sammut and a notary, Anthony Agius, were acquitted of having forged a cancer victim's signature, mainly due to a lack of conclusive evidence. Both were charged with forging Nicholas Borg's signature in August 2001, months before he died in Novem- ber. Sammut had already been sen- tenced to 16 months in jail, to- gether with a general interdiction, back in 2018, for giving false testi- mony in court. The perjury was connected to several civil cases instituted by brothers Michelangelo 'Kelly' and Alfred Fenech, who were suing Enemalta and Mediterranean Oil Bunkers Limited (MOBC) for damages, claiming to have been deliberately put out of business for political reasons. The Fenechs claimed their licences as oil trad- ers had been suspended on order of the former Nationalist minister Ninu Zammit because of their links to former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. It was in one of their civil suits that Generoso Sammut had made an affidavit claiming he had known the Fenechs for 35 years; but then in 2013, Sammut was said to have given false testimo- ny, ostensibly in order to get the Fenechs to lose their case. Judge Anthony Ellul at that point or- dered Sammut to be investigated for perjury. Sammut later claimed it "made no difference to the mag- istrate" and that he "wanted to get out of this situation with no prob- lems with either side." Jimmy Sammut The percentage of individuals coming forward for treatment for their heroin problem has declined by more than half, from 56% in 2010 to 20% in 2020