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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 6 MAY 2015 5 News YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt Dutch woman, cleared of drug smuggling, tells court of racial profiling by airport police MATTHEW AGIUS A Dutch woman of Dominican ex- traction, who is fighting a consti- tutional case for being subjected to arbitrary arrest and degrading treatment, has told a court that she was subjected to drug searches at the airport every time she arrived in Malta. The woman, Jennifer Koster, told the court that she had been in a re- lationship with a Maltese man for three years and would visit the is- land regularly. The searches never turned up anything, she said. Koster is claiming to have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, dis- proportionate use of force, and inhuman and degrading treatment by the police after she was made to spend a total of 16 hours under ar- rest, during which she was subject- ed to intimate searches and made to search through her own faeces. Koster said that she had asked why she was being searched. The initial reason she had been given was that the searches were "routine control," but she claimed that po- lice had later told her that the fact that she is Dominican and was ar- riving from Holland was a factor. Asked by her lawyer, Angie Mus- cat, whether similar searches had ever happened anywhere else on her travels, she said it would only happen when she visited Malta. "I go to Germany, Spain, everywhere, with no problem." Medical doctor Joseph Farrugia Agius, a renal consultant at Mater Dei hospital, testified that he had felt that an initial report by a ra- diologist on a Dutch woman sus- pected of "body packing" – smug- gling drugs by concealing them in bodily orifices – was misleading. Farrugia Agius testified that he was the medical consultant on call that day. He said that the ini- tial X-ray report from the Emer- gency department, indicating the possibility of a foreign object be- ing present had, in his opinion, been made to pass the buck on to someone else because this was a police case. "He [the emergency doctor] didn't want to say 'she's clean' or 'there is definitely something'." As a shadow was reported on the X- ray of her vagina, Koster was then referred to the duty gynecologist, who after examining her con- cluded that there were no foreign bodies in the vagina. A consultant radiologist was also shown the X- rays and had also reached the same conclusion, said Farrugia Agius. Koster herself had also testified as to the events of 18 February. She recalled that she had just arrived on the f light from Eindhoven and had decided to go straight from the airport to a Chinese restau- rant, on the suggestion of her Mal- tese boyfriend, as she hadn't eaten much on the late night f light. While he was driving to the res- taurant, she said, three cars came out of nowhere and blocked their vehicle's passage. She said that at least five men swarmed out and surrounded them, banging on their car. So aggressive were the plainclothes police officers – who at that point had not yet identi- fied themselves – that her terrified boyfriend drove on, thinking it to be a robbery attempt. However they were forced to stop further down the road, at which point the police identified them- selves and dragged the woman and her boyfriend from the car. She said she was only told she was under ar- rest while she was being driven to the hospital for examination. Koster recalled how she then had to undergo a vaginal examination performed by a male doctor, while two female police officers, a nurse and another doctor looked on. "I had to open my legs with every- body watching me. How do you think I felt? I didn't have anything. They had taken the X-rays. They were supposed to know that I had nothing in my body," she said. She was administered a laxative and made to search in her own ex- crement, covering her hands with a plastic bag as no gloves were avail- able. No drugs were found and she was eventually released without charge after spending 16 hours in custody. The case continues. European Commission projects local economy will remain strong THE European Commission projects in its Spring Forecast that Malta's economic performance will remain robust with a favour- able macroeconomic outlook and a further decline in the budget deficit. The forecast, issued yesterday, recognises that the deficit targets of 2.7% and 2.1% for both 2013 and 2014 respectively, were met and expects the deficit to continue de- clining to 1.8% in 2015 and 1.5% in 2016. "Malta's economic growth in the final quarter of the year marked the highest growth rate in the last four years. Robust growth in private consumption, stronger in- vestment and government expend- iture in productive sectors were the main contributors behind the robust growth attained in 2014," a statement issued by the govern- ment reads. The Commission said it expects the main drivers of growth to be investment in a number of large- scale construction and energy projects as well as private con- sumption, ref lecting an increase in disposable incomes and favourable consumer sentiment, as well as a substantial increase in EU funds absorption, particularly in 2015. The Commission also expects falling interest rates to ease ac- cess to finance for firms, bring- ing about a reduction in the cost of financing for micro and small enterprises. "Job creation and the unemploy- ment rate are expected to out- perform euro-area peers and the Commission expects the dynamic job creation to continue to con- tribute to the increased level of economic activity in Malta," the statement said. "We are very pleased that the Commission acknowledges invest- ment to be the main driver behind Malta's economic growth," said Fi- nance Minister Edward Scicluna. He added that economic stabil- ity, brought about by good fiscal governance, is what has attracted and will continue to attract this investment. Balkan youths plead guilty to falsifying passport stamps MATTHEW AGIUS TWO youths from the Bal- kans have received suspended sentences after they pleaded guilty to falsifying exit and entry stamps on their pass- ports. Inspector Mario Haber yes- terday presented Ivan Senci, 29, from Serbia, and Igor Sto- jchevski, 23, from Macedonia, under arrest before Magis- trate Carol Peralta, charging them with being in possession of passports which had been altered in some way, know- ingly making use of falsified documents and falsifying immigra- tion documents. The men pleaded guilty and were handed one-year jail sentences, sus- pended for one year. During submissions on punish- ment, the court was told that Senci had been married to a Bulgarian woman less than a week ago and was therefore going to be entitled to free movement within the EU anyway. Lawyers Robert Galea and Shazoo Ghaznavi represented Senci, while lawyer Noel Bartolo appeared for Stojchevski.