A man from Togo granted refugee status by Germany was today jailed six months suspended for a year after admitting to resisting the police who wanted to carry out a surprise search.

The incident happened at the Malta International Airport on Thursday afternoon when 21-year-old Ali Abdoulaye arrived on a flight from Dusseldorf. He refused to be searched and resisted three police officers.

Police Inspector Mario Haber said the two police sergeants and a police constable were pushed before the man was arrested. He said the Togolese came to Malta to visit his Maltese girlfriend who he met when she was studying there.

Defence counsel Mark Mifsud Cutajar said it was the language barrier that caused the "misunderstanding". He said his client also felt "offended" that the police wanted to search him from a plane full of people.

But Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona said that not understanding a language did not justify his behaviour with the police.

The accused pleaded guilty to resisting the officers and preventing them from carrying out their duties.  He apologisend for the incident.

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