Police seize 1kg of material suspected to be heroin

The police have seized 1Kg of a material suspected to be heroin after a raid in Triq is-Serkin in Marsa.

According to the police communications unit, the operation which included members of the police’s drugs squad, dogs squad, SWAT and district police, led to the arrest of five Maltese nationals.

It said that the five suspects, who were aged between 22 and 39 and resided in Birkirkara, Marsa, Bormla and Hamrun, were found in possession of the substance which was ready to be trafficked, as well as other items “related to the trafficking of heroin”.

“Some of the arrested individuals were found in a shed which for some reason, caught fire,” said the police, adding that a number of animals including “horses, donkeys, ducks and birds, which were locked in the shed together with the suspects were saved in time” by the police and members of the civil protection department.

An inquiry, with the assistance of a number of experts, has been started.

The police said that the arrested individuals were being held under arrest so as to help the Police with its investigation. Moreover, it said that in the coming days they will be charged in with association in trafficking, possession not for exclusively for use of heroin and cruelty to animals.

Police investigations are still underway.