Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546133
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 AUGUST 2026 NEWS €700,000 wrapped in clingfilm dumped into the sea in panic CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He was arrested for failing to pay alimony and in a fit of rage, the man threatened the police sergeant and the magistrate that had issued the decree ordering his arrest. In court, Cassar admitted the charges and was fined €9,000 and also lost €500 from his bail deposit. Just seven days later, on 28 July, Cassar was on a speedboat along with his 13-year-old son and Maltese nationals Owen Jones and Sage Gauci, just off Casuzze, a seaside locality west of Marina di Ragusa on the Sicilian south- east coast. The boat owned by Jones end- ed up without fuel. As the men attempted to make shore to go and buy fuel, bathers on the sandy beach called for assistance when the boat, bobbing on the waves, approached dangerously towards shore. But the arrival of the Italian coast guard caused the remain- ing person on board to panic and dump into the sea hun- dreds of thousands of euro notes wrapped in clingfilm. The mon- ey washed ashore to the surprise of bathers as police moved in to collect the lucrative booty that totalled a staggering €700,000. A Lidl cooler bag and a Three Hills tomato paste bag used to hold the money in were osten- sibly, the only ordinary items on board. A boating mishap turns into a mystery It was at this point that a seem- ingly innocent boating mishap turned into a mystery connect- ing Malta to Sicily's south-east- ern shores, where Albanian gangs involved in the interna- tional cocaine trade are known to operate in partnership with local mafia groups. The Maltese men were interro- gated and released on police bail. Italian investigators are still try- ing to establish the provenance of the funds, who they were in- tended for, or whether they con- stituted a payment for a delivery that had already been done. Eventually, the Maltese men returned to Malta but Cassar was arrested since he was in breach of bail conditions. Cassar, a panel beater, who at one point worked for his uncle fixing and taking care of boats, has a long list of criminal priors ranging from theft to misappro- priation of funds and jewellery. Owen Jones, 45, from Qormi also works as a panel beater and sprayer. He once also owned a food takeaway outlet. Sourc- es in Malta have identified Jones as the speedboat's own- er. Through his lawyer Franco Debono, Jones denied any con- nection to the money but would neither confirm nor deny his presence in Sicily at the time of the incident. Unlike Cassar, Jones's only brush with the law was an in- cident more than two decades ago of minor relevance. How- ever, Jones's social media foot- print showed him to be a regu- lar visitor to Marina di Ragusa and other parts of Italy. He had also been interviewed once at Catania's fish market, where he spoke lightly about his frequent visits to Sicily. The video has since been removed and Jones renamed his Facebook page, deleting a lot of the posts and photos placing him in Sicily with family and friends. Indeed, it appears that it is through his friends, who work in construction, that Jones and Cassar appear to have made acquaintance. Cassar is men- tioned alongside Jone's friends in Facebook posts put up by Puttinu Cares, a charity or- ganisation, in which the con- struction company is thanked for making donations of food for cancer patients and rela- tives, and providing free paint to be used in the organisation's apartment blocks in London. The third man involved in the speedboat incident is Sage Gau- ci, a 27-year-old from Valletta. Gauci had been charged with associating with others to steal cigarettes from a Valletta ware- house six years ago. A window on cocaine trafficking Meanwhile, Italian mafia jour- nalist Giuseppe Bascietto, who has been reporting on the Alba- nian gangs operating under the cover of legitimate agricultural businesses in south-east Sicily, said the Maltese speedboat in- cident may have opened a win- dow on a much larger nefarious network operating in the cen- tral Mediterranean. Writing in Gli Stati Generali, a news platform for independent journalists, Bacietto said one of the investigative lines being fol- lowed is that of cocaine traffick- ing from South America that passes through Malta and Sicily to reach the heart of Europe. Bascietto traces the cocaine route from the port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador, where Albanian gangs are also present, to Malta Freeport in Birżebbuġa and on to Sicily's south-eastern coast, where the geography makes it easy for small, fast boats to approach and offload their merchandise. Back in November 2024, Mal- taToday had reported on a particular drug bust at Malta Freeport that involved cocaine being transported in contain- ers that came from Guayaquil. The difference from similar drug busts at the Freeport was that the drugs in this case were destined for the domestic mar- ket. The police charged three Maltese men with trafficking of cocaine that had an estimated street value of €20 million. The case is still ongoing. Another two men, identified as Free- port employees, had also been arrested but it remains unclear whether charges were ever filed against them. So far, there is nothing link- ing the speedboat incident off Casuzze to the drug trade. However, the boat and the money remain sequestered by the Italian investigative author- ities, who are pursuing several lines of inquiry, including the possibility that the money was either payment for an illicit de- livery already made, or payment for an illicit purchase that was still to take place. Questions sent to the state prosecutor of Ragusa have re- mained unanswered. Jeffrey Cassar, Owen Jones and Sage Gauci (above, from left) were left stranded in the sea when the speedboat they were on ran out of fuel