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.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.