Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/792945
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PAGE 9 • Editorial PAGE 5 WEDNESDAY • 1 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 511 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Woman caught with nine heroin packets asked to change statement SAVIOUR BALZAN A young woman caught with packets of heroin asked to ex- punge her police statement in which she had implicated two young men in drug trafficking, MaltaToday has learnt, as more details have emerged after last Sunday's shocking revelations following a drug bust in Mgarr ix- Xini, Sannat. The young woman was appre- hended by the CID Gozo squad after being caught red handed with nine packets of heroin at a party in Mgarr ix-Xini in June 2013, not in 2014 as reported on Sunday. She was arrested together with another youth. In her original statement to the police she ad- mitted to being in possession of drugs but claimed that two other people, including the one who was apprehended with her, were in fact the traffickers. The narrative changed when in September one of the two men, the one who was not apprehend- ed at Mgarr ix-Xini, was caught in Marsalforn in the possession of cannabis. This led the Gozo police to revisit the investiga- tion and looked at prosecuting two young males who come from well-known families in Gozo. At the end of October and be- ginning of November, the par- ents of the two young males were noted entering a government building at around 11pm. In the building they had a meeting with two senior politicians. They were seen leaving the building at around 1am. As new details emerge, it is now clear that it was the woman who changed her statement and not the two men. Soon after the meet- ing between the men's fathers and two politicians, the young woman suspect apprehended at Mgarr ix-Xini asked to have her statement changed. In her new statement she claimed that the young males were not involved in providing her with drugs. She was later only charged with drugs possession. The idyllic setting at Mgarr ix-Xini, home to a major drug bust in June 2013. (Inset) Lawyer Frank Testa has been appointed to lead inquiry Swieqi businessman was stabbed six times, autopsy confirms MIRIAM DALLI SWIEQI businessman David Abela was stabbed six times in his neck and torso, an autopsy carried out by forensic ex- pert Mario Scerri has revealed. The ultimate cause of death appears to be asphyxia by suffocation as Abela's mouth had been covered with duct tape. Abela, 51, was found dead in his bed- room on Monday, bound and gagged, as police investigations into his private life intensify. The motive behind his killing has not yet been established, although the police have spoken to his 29-year-old partner, Irina Alexandrova Micallef. It was said that the couple had lately been going through a rough patch and Abela had reportedly lodged a police report against her. PAGE 4 Irina Alexandrova Micallef and David Abela