Woman, arrested at airport with two kilos of cocaine, pleads not guilty to drug trafficking

A court has heard how a Dutch woman was arrested upon her arrival at the airport after she was found to have been carrying two kilograms of cocaine strapped to her body.

Arraigning Police Inspector Marshal Mallia told Magistrate Monica Vella that on 22nd November, around midnight,  police had been conducting checks together with customs officials at the airport. Upon checking the accused, two kilograms of suspected cocaine were found strapped to her abdomen.

She had just disembarked from a flight from Brussels, said the inspector. Her rights were read out to her and she was taken into custody. A Magisterial inquiry was also opened, he said.

The accused, 44-year-old Anoushka Halman, from Curacao, living in the Netherlands, told the court that she was employed as a cleaner there. She said her mother was still alive but didn’t want anyone to call her.

The woman pleaded not guilty to charges of drug possession and trafficking.

No request for bail was made by Halman’s defence lawyer Annemarie Gaffiero Muscat Drago. The court acceded to the prosecution’s request for a freezing order and an attachment order.

The lawyer requested a copy of the audiovisual statement released by the accused under arrest, which the prosecution said it will be providing in due course.

The case was sent to the registrar to be assigned according to law.

The woman was remanded in custody.