It Took A Maltese Court 5 Years To Figure Out A White Powder Was Actually Paracetamol
Cover photo: Lars Jellestad
Five years, or half a decade as it is sometimes known, is quite a long time.
A baby can become a little talking person, governments can topple and crash, or, if you are 25-year-old Nathan Agius, it can be the amount of time Maltese police spend telling you that the paracetamol you were carrying is actually ecstasy.
Back in June 2014, Agius had been arrested and charged with the possession of mephedrone and ecstasy after a police accused him of throwing a small sachet of white powder, the alleged drugs out of his passenger window in a police stop in Qormi.
While Agius technically might have thrown some drugs out the window, they were not of the illicit type.
And now, five years after the fact, someone actually got around to testing the substance, only to find it was paracetamol, and not ecstasy.
Not only was he falsely accused of carrying drugs, but he had been interrogated without a lawyer present – a really big no no
In her decision today, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said that the statement Agius gave during that interrogation was inadmissible due to the fact that a lawyer had not been present.
In light of the fact that his statement was inadmissible and, well, he wasn’t actually carrying any illegal drugs, he was acquitted of all charges.
And while Lovin Malta has been unable to independently confirm it, it is being said that those same policemen are still out there, looking for people with leaves in their pockets to charge them with the possession and international trafficking of cannabis.
Agius was represented by defence lawyers Dr Franco Debono and Dr Amadeus Cachia.
Tag someone who is out in the streets pushing paracetamol to the kids
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