Parties, drugs and handcuffs

Drug arrests feature regularly in news bulletins. Kurt Bugeja Coster spent a night with the hardworking officers of the police Drug Squad.

The driver turns right. He releases the accelerator, steps on the clutch and dislodges the gear lever. The car rolls down the hill, approaching a mobile police station.

The car does not bear police markings. It is an average car of an average brand. Civilians on the lookout for unmarked police cars would overlook it. Similar cars are parked along the hill and more will soon be arriving.

It is 10 p.m. Dressed in civilian clothing, the two policemen open the door and step outside. With handcuffs and a mace canister secured to their belts, they palm their identification cards and flash them at the bouncers guarding the door of the venue where an international DJ is mixing his music, before walking in undetected. Composed and inconspicuous, the two get their bearings and continue inside.

Two other policemen in plainclothes escort a suspect to a side door. He looked suspicious when he walked in and the policemen believed he was on drugs. He's questioned in a room and his possessions are rummaged through. But no drugs are found. He walks off free and continues to the bar.

Fighting for consciousness, another bleary-eyed suspect is instructed to wait in the queue outside the room until he's summoned inside.

Two policewomen walk through the entrance and inform a policeman that two immigrants were questioned and searched inside. A substantial amount of banknotes were found in their possession but since they had no drugs, their particulars were taken for further investigation.

It's midnight and the suspect is summoned. One pill is found in his possession and a thorough search for other concealed drugs follows. None are found but he is escorted to the squad's headquarters for further questioning. Meanwhile, in another corner, a policeman pats down a man against a wall. The queue outside is getting longer.

Another suspect is escorted to the interrogation room and confesses to taking drugs. But the policemen are unable to establish how much. From his behaviour it seems to be substantial and the concerned policemen escort him to the medical centre. The doctor's forehead wrinkles in thought as he admits the suspect to hospital.

At 1 a.m. an ambulance parks outside creating a brief congestion. The impatient driver of a car revs the engine. A policeman asks him to stop doing this but he ignores the order. Becoming suspicious, the officer approaches the car and questions the driver.

However, the driver ignores him and as the street clears, steps on the accelerator and speeds off, almost running over the policeman. Undeterred the policeman, with two colleagues, sprints after the fading headlamps, hoping to catch the car stuck in traffic. Civilians gathered outside the venue remain speechless.

The car speeds off leaving the three policemen panting behind. They are convinced the driver is involved in suspicious activities and one of them files a report with the control room. The mobile squad is asked to be on the lookout for the car.

Aware of the commotion, the doctor runs outside, to see if the policemen have been injured. Having examined countless patients, he relishes a distraction. Seeing nobody is injured, he reminds them to take care of their health before that of others.

It is now 2 a.m. The policemen go back inside the venue where three policewomen are arguing with a suspect. He was caught inhaling white powder through a rolled up banknote in the VIP area. He resists arrest and a policeman notices the suspect slipping his right hand into his back pocket and stops him.

Two policemen escort him to the interrogation room where they question and search him. They walk out holding a labelled, sealed plastic bag with the rolled up banknote and three sachets containing white powder. The suspect is escorted to headquarters to be questioned further.

There is no rest for the team of officers. Two policemen emerge from the VIP area, supporting a woman looking pale and hardly able to stand. They suspect her drink was mixed with drugs. Trembling, she grimaces as she is rushed to the medical centre. The policemen walk out shaking their heads in disbelief. She pulls through and returns to the bar.

The wild atmosphere, coupled with the heat and cigarette smoke hanging like a cloud on the dance floor, become suffocating and unbearable. The policemen do not stop clubbers from lighting up so as not to blow their cover.

The organisers provide two crates of free mineral water but it does little to cool people down. Suspects continue to line the adjoining wall and the officers are exhausted.

At 3 a.m. the crowd starts to disperse and it is only the more energetic who continue to dance. Men remove their shirts and pour mineral water over their heads. Drunks congregate in dark corners, falling to the ground where they remain motionless. A scuffle breaks out next to a bar but the bouncers are quick to calm things down.

A policeman turns his attention to the opposite direction and hones in on a suspect. He gestures to a colleague and they approach him. One of them shows him his identification card and the other places a firm hand on the suspect's shoulder as they escort him to the interrogation room.

When the suspect takes a seat, his mobile phone beeps signalling he received a text message. One of the policemen snatches it and reads the message - it is related to drugs. The suspect is questioned and searched but no drugs are found. Nevertheless, the policemen persist.

An accomplice is identified inside the venue through the SMS. Two policemen arrest him and escort him to the interrogation room, where he is also questioned and searched. The suspects are later escorted to headquarters, where investigations continue past sunrise.

It is 4 a.m. Exhausted, a policewoman dressed in civilian clothing climbs into an unmarked police car. She still has to go to the office before clocking off at 5 a.m. Her second shift is in eight hours and ends at 9 p.m., before clocking in again at 5 a.m. the next day. There was just enough time for a shower and some sleep.

Details have been omitted to protect the officers' and suspects' identity.

kbugeja@timesofmalta.com