Four men jailed, fined €6.6 million each after theft of container from Freeport

Four men were fined €6.6 million each and given effective jail terms on Tuesday after being found guilty of defrauding the government in a major cigarette smuggling operation.

In July 2015, a container carrying over 10 million cigarettes had been stolen, emptied and then returned to its place at the Freeport.

Security officer Christopher Calleja, 69, from Valletta, was sentenced by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech to an effective four-year jail term, while haulier Malcolm Zammit, 44, from Qormi was jailed for three years. Both were fined €6.6 million each.

Customs officer Sebastian Zammit, 73, from Safi and Malta Freeport employee Roderick Borg from Qormi, were jailed for three years and two years respectively, and also fined €6.6 million each.

One third of the fine - €2,228,685.00292 - is to be considered as civil damages and should be paid to the Customs Department.

The accused are said to have deprived the government of €1.66 million in excise duty, €175,000 in importation duty, and €386,000 in Value Added Tax, totalling the above €2.23 million.

If the fine is not paid, it will be converted into more jailtime.

The four men were also ordered to pay €1,123 in court costs, while the container and its contents were confiscated.

Inspectors Rennie Stivala and Carlos Cordina from the Economic Crimes Unit charged the men with the theft of the container from the Freeport laden with 10.5 million cigarettes.

The consignment was in 1,050 cases each containing 10,000 cigarettes, valued at €304,500 in total.