Il-Porporina gets seven-year jail term for organising drug deal from prison

Career criminal Alfred Bugeja, better known by the nickname Il-Porporina, was today jailed for seven years and fined €11,500 for organising a drug deal from his prison cell. The 59-year-old was found guilty of conspiring to import two kilogrammes of cocaine, one kilogramme of heroin and around 2,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands in May 2002. Magistrate Francesco Depasquale heard how Mr Bugeja, who at the time was a prison inmate, had been approached by another prisoner, Emanuel Camilleri, known as Leli l-bully, and asked to find someone to go with him to Holland and purchase the drugs. The men were to take $46,000 and Lm7,000 to purchase the drugs and deliver them to Malta. Mr Bugeja was promised the 2000 ecstasy pills while his accomplice would have received €2,330. He accepted the offer without hesitation and asked his brother to assist after another of his brothers had refused to participate in the illicit deal. The court heard how Mr Bugeja had made the necessary arrangements upon his release from prison but he was not contacted by Mr Camilleri, who in the meantime had found another partner in crime. Handing down judgment, Magistrate Depasquale noted how the consignment...