A passenger arriving from Geneva has been charged with drug trafficking offences after he was found to have ingested over 140 capsules of cannabis resin.

35-year-old Farhat Said from Morocco, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to import the drug and importing the drug, during his arraignment before magistrate Jean Paul Grech on Thursday.

Police Inspector Mark Anthony Mercieca told the court that Said had been arrested on May 7, after arriving on an EasyJet flight from Geneva.

He was observed to be behaving suspiciously during regular customs checks on passengers and had been pulled aside for further questioning. His replies to those questions did not allay the police’s suspicions and so the man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital to undergo an abdominal scan, which revealed him to have ingested 143 capsules, which were later found to contain cannabis resin.

Lawyer Adriano Spiteri, assisting Said as legal aid, told the court that the defendant was not requesting bail at this stage.

The court upheld the prosecution’s request that a freezing order be issued over all assets pertaining to the defendant.

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