Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/721047
4 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 31 AUGUST 2016 News Witnesses in 15kg Gozo cocaine bust decline to testify MATTHEW AGIUS THE owner of a Mercedes in which 15kg of cocaine were dis- covered upon its return to Malta from France has declined to tes- tify in the compilation of evidence against the man who drove it, Joseph Rodney Grima of Ghajn- sielem. Carmel Polidano, the car's own- er, and his son, Christopher, both assisted by lawyer Franco Debono, briefly took to the witness stand to inform the court that they would not be testifying so as not to in- criminate themselves. Grima, of Ghajnsielem, appeared in court yesterday, as prosecution witnesses testified. Grima is charged with the im- portation and possession of 15kg of cocaine which had been discov- ered inside the Mercedes E-class 350 that had been purchased in the UK and transported to Mal- ta by ferry. A Police Sergeant told the court that four transporter- trailer trucks had disem- barked the ferries and he had inspected the cars with cus- toms personnel. There was one car that he had been asked to keep an eye on, as the owner was not immediately identifiable, he said. The truck driver had told him that he had been asked to pick up the car in France by his boss as it had broken down. He had found Joseph Rodney Grima and loaded the Mercedes on the truck. Grima had followed him in a Renault that was offloaded to make space for the vehicle. Later the owner of the Mercedes in question was named as Carmel Polidano, the court heard. Police had gone to Polidano's house in Zabbar and asked if he was the owner of the vehicle. He had refused to say anything be- yond that it belonged to a car deal- er, but that he had paid for it. Grima told interrogating offic- ers that he had driven the car with Chris Polidano and "a certain Ha- mid," on holiday but the car had stopped in France. Arrangements were made to have the vehicle re- place a Renault on a transporter- trailer. The accused said he drove the Renault. The police sergeant said that in- spections on the impounded vehi- cle revealed that the car was refus- ing to start and it seemed that the car wasn't getting fuel. Customs scans and dog searches had not found anything in the car, which was towed to the police garage. It was dismantled and under the back seat, the seals to the inspec- tion boxes for the two fuel tanks were found to have been tampered with. The inspection boxes were opened. Out of one tank, 20 pack- ets were extracted, 16 were recov- ered from the other tank. Once they were removed, the car start- ed. Polidano and Grima, who had been observing the inspection, denied knowledge of the packets, he said. Grima had told the police that the engine check light had been on, but tests on the vehicle's com- puter system showed that it had not ever been on since it left the factory, before that date. "I had asked the truck driver for all the documents of the cars he was carrying. The logbook was in the name of a foreign owner. I needed to know the names of the Maltese buyers. 30 minutes later the transport company owner arrived, as the drivers were un- able to tell me. Stephen Attard, the company owner, brought all the cars' documents except those of the Mercedes. He was on the phone with someone discussing the problem." He later returned to tell him that the owner of the Mercedes was Carmel Polidano. The accused was not there, the witness said. "I was interested in the owner. The person responsible is the owner." When questioned, Polidano, "stuttering, at first told the police that the car wasn't his but then said he had paid for it," the witness said. He later said his friend had asked him to lend it to him for a 15-day holiday. "That friend was Joseph Rodney Grima." Polidano had not told him what this holiday was for. Paul Cassar from Zabbar, one of the drivers employed by Attard, testified. He was entrusted with transporting the car to Malta. Cassar had received the GPS co-ordinates of the car that had stalled in France and went to pick him up as he happened to be only 30 minutes away. They had driven from Macon to Genoa – a 10-hour trip. The accused was driving the Renault Megane for the entire journey, Cassar said, but had slept in the Mercedes. Once on the vessel, the car could not be opened, and the key was in his possession, Cas- sar told the court. "I loaded it on to the ship and gave the keys to the truck to the loadmaster." The Megane was not loaded as it was driven to a gate that didn't accept single vehicles, the driver readily admitted. The accused had claimed to have driven up to watch a race at Hockenheim in Germany with Chris Polidano and a friend called Hamid. It was pointed out to the court that visiting Macon required a four-hour detour from the Hock- enheim to Genoa route the men had originally been driving. Poli- dano and Hamid are understood to have made other travel arrange- ments for the return trip. It was difficult to open the car on the ship, he said. "You can't go onto the car deck alone. You ask the captain who will send a crew member to accompany you." Inspector Jonathan Cassar from the drugs squad testi- fied that the arrest had been planned after police had been reliably informed that the ve- hicle in question would prob- ably be carrying drugs. The police had established that the car belonged to Carmel Polidano who told them that he had lent it to Grima. Grima was summoned without difficulty. He had been accompanied abroad by a "certain Hamid" and Christopher Polidano. At around 19:30 ser- geant Stephen Cassar had called up the inspector and told him that packets had been found in the car's fuel tanks. The prosecution informed the court that it would be summon- ing Stephen Attard and the trailer driver, Paul Cassar, to testify, but from police investigations no grounds for charges to be issued were found. 36 packets were recovered in all. One was carefully opened by scene-of-crime officers and a test kit was used on the heavily- wrapped white substance. It was found to be cocaine. The men were then arrested. The car started easily after the packets were removed, the in- spector said. A subsequent search of the man's residence turned up several mobile phones, weighing scales and shotgun cartridges. Defence counsel Joe Giglio asked the witness about the cartridges, allegedly his brother's, found in the accused's bedside table, but the inspector had not investigated these bullets yet. Supt Dennis Theuma and In- spector Jonathan Cassar are pros- ecuting. Lawyers Joe Giglio, Mario Mifsud, William Cuschieri and Alfred Abela appeared for the ac- cused. The case continues in Septem- ber. The owner of a Mercedes in which 15kg of cocaine were discovered declined to testify in the compilation of evidence against the driver, Joseph Rodney Grima (above) Malta: a destination for expats… in love MIRIAM DALLI AS Malta retains its place among the top expat destinations for the second year running, it now transpires that it is also the top country for love. According to the InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey, not only are 70% of expats in Malta in a relationship – compared to the global average of 63% – close to two-thirds of those who are romantically involved say they could not be happier with their relationship. Expat Insider says this could be possibly connected to their high- er than average age: over half of expats in a relationship on Malta are 51 years or older. 44% of the expats are in a relationship with someone from a third country – which is double the global aver- age. A newcomer in last year's sur- vey, Malta has been ranked sec- ond out of 67 countries as the best expat destination, moving up one spot. Taiwan clinched the top spot whilst Ecuador came third. Expat Insider, which describes itself as one of the largest expat surveys worldwide, surveyed over 14,000 respondents repre- senting 174 nationalities and 191 countries or territories. The survey covers a wide range of topics, including basic facts about demographic data and the moving process. It focuses on participants' happiness with a variety of factors related to their country of residence and person- al life abroad. The destination rankings are based on five topical indices: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Family Life, and Personal Finance. For the rankings themselves, participants were asked to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of one to seven. The rating process emphasized the respondents' personal satis- faction with these aspects and considered both emotional top- ics such as the friendliness of the local population as well as more factual aspects – e.g. affordabil- ity of healthcare – with equal weight. The survey found Malta per- forms best in the 'ease of settling in index', coming in fourth place. It is first in terms of settling down, getting used to the local culture, and making new friends. Over four in ten expats (41%) say it is very easy to settle down in Malta, well over twice the global average of 16%. Malta fell from first place to fifth this year in the 'work- ing abroad index'. It seems that working expats are not as pleased with their work-life bal- ance as they were in 2015, with only 22% completely satisfied (vs. 27% in 2015), which is still slightly above the global average of 17%. This is despite, or perhaps due to, the fact that 28% are part- time workers. According to Expat Insider, Malta has made a quite signifi- cant impression in the 'personal finance index', jumping from 42nd to 6th place. One-quarter of respondents even quote com- plete satisfaction with their fi- nancial situation (global 15%). "This is despite the fact that one-third of working expats say their income is generally lower than back home." Malta holds sixth place in the 'quality of life index', with excep- tional ratings for the climate and weather. According to the same survey, "three-quarters of expats say they couldn't be more pleased with it, and not a single respond- ent has something negative to say". "With such glowing results, it's perhaps no surprise that al- most half the expats in Malta are planning to stay forever (49%), significantly higher than the global average of 31%," Expat In- sider said. Malta was rated negatively over travel and transport, coming in at the 44th place. The Expat Insider 2016 survey was conducted by InterNations, with conceptual feedback pro- vided by the independent market research company komma Gm- bH. The online survey ran from 18 February through 13 March 2016 and was promoted through the InterNations website, news- letter, and social media profiles — reaching out both to members of the network and expats in gen- eral. A total of 14,272 expatri- ates took part, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 different countries or overseas territories. Malta, a Cupid's destination among expats