23 arrested over drugs
Police arrested 23 people on Saturday night after they were caught in possession of a variety of drugs during a party near Rabat and at road blocks in other parts of the island.
The police said 11 men were arrested at the party carrying ecstasy pills, cocaine and cannabis. The drugs were found in a search on the party goers carried out by Drug Squad police.
One of the 11 men is a 27-year-old Spaniard, another is a 20-year-old Italian and the rest are Maltese aged between 18 and 25 from Guardamangia, Swieqi, Luqa, Tarxien, Birżebbuġa, Birkirkara and Żabbar, the police said.
All the men are in custody and are expected to be arraigned in the coming days. One of them will face drug trafficking charges while the rest will be accused of possession.
Later on that night, members of the Drug Squad arrested eight men and four women who were caught in possession of ecstasy pills, cannabis resin and LSD at road blocks set up by the Armed Forces of Malta. The police said the 12 people are aged between 18 and 31 and hail from Qormi, Mosta, Birkirkara, Guardamangia, Sliema, Attard, Żabbar, Fgura and Pembroke.
They are expected to be charged with drug possession in the coming days.
The police are investigating.
7 Comments
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Robert Agius
Aug 18th 2008, 17:17
Another bunch of scapegoats to please the mindless crowd.
@DR IRIS PACE
Many people would lead a more peaceful life if the smoked cannabis (in fact i'ld go as far as make it compulsory for some people who really need to chill down:P). I fail to see how these people ruin your (or theirs for that matter) life.
@Dr. Emmy Bezzina, LL.D., Dip.S.Th
Shakespeare, Wilde, Van Gogh, The Beatles, Sartre, Queen Victoria, Allen Poe, Huxley etc etc. Just a few people who used the drugs mentioned in the article. All fools yeah?!
a law for lion and ox is oppression - W. Blake
Control by use of power will not solve the the problem, it just makes it bigger. I don't see people asking themselves why people use drugs excessively. Easier to blame it on the drugs I reckon.
Ramon Casha
Aug 18th 2008, 16:49
@Dr. Iris Pace:
Do you make a distinction between pushers and users? Only one of the group is to be charged with trafficking, the other 22 will be charged with possession. How harsh a sentence would you recommend for, say, a person caught in possession of one "joint"?
DR IRIS PACE
Aug 18th 2008, 12:36
I hope the courts will be harsh in their sentences.These people need to go to prison in order to learn to lead a clean and peaceful life and not be the ruin of so many other people.
Only in this way MALTA and GOZO will find a solution to this very serious situation which is getting unbearable day by day
C.Debono
Aug 18th 2008, 11:17
Big Deal, With the exception of LSD the rest iare all 'soft Drugs' which in most of the rest of Europe would be dealt with at the roadside via confiscation.
This is not giving Malta a good impression abroad and is turning Malta into a Midnight Express destination.
I think the Police should concentrate on the harder drugs like heroin etc and not bother with someone having a Puff at the disco.
R. Galea
Aug 18th 2008, 10:58
@ H. Dempster
If you think for one minute that the police/AFM are solving the islands drug problems by arresting a couple of kids at a party carrying illegal substances for their personnel use, you don’t live in the real world. They just become more experienced and the next time they won’t get caught....!!!!
As for the road blocks that the AFM conduct on the nights of parties are hosted. Those road blocks are conducted illegally as no AFM / Police force have the legal right to conduct a search on any ones property without a search warrant. Nowhere else in Europe are road block held without a warrant. But for some reason the matter has not yet been challenged in the law courts.
Dr. Emmy Bezzina, LL.D., Dip.S.Th.,
Aug 18th 2008, 10:58
DRUGS,particularly HARD DRUGS [ Cocaine,Heroin,and so forth],ARE A TREMENDOUS SOCIAL ISSUE IN OUR COUNTRY.We are now indundated with this issue and it will be very difficult to control,exactly as we ignorned Family Matrimonial Issues years ago with most attempting to play up a saintly image only to cover up their hypocrisy and incompetence in the matter,as has happened for instance with not introducing a Divorce Law.Similarly with Drugs,we have well-to-do parents who cannot cope with the excigencies of their children following their being ensared into the Drug Trap.Police Raids,I mean serious well-strategized Raids,have to be made with Entertainmen Localities involved closed down immediately.The scourge and curse of DRUGS & its consequential disastrous effects will be felt for generations to come as today`s youngesters will form the idiotic generations of tomorrow who have no idea of the ups and downs of Life and believe that resorting to Drugs [ Cigarettes included ] is a quick getaway for an immediate solution that in reality is no solution at all: but a fool remains a fool no matter by what appellative one refers to such...Society must react Drastically for the welfare of our People and our Country.
H. Dempster
Aug 18th 2008, 09:37
Good Show, and congratulations to all the police force involved . KEEP UP THE VERY GOOD WORK. It is about time somebody talked positively about them.
Come on keep at it and give the pushers and the associates a bashing.