Woman jailed after police discover 200 ecstasy pills in her apartment, friends admit to prostitution

A woman from Colombia has been jailed for 14 months after over 200 ecstasy pills were found in her apartment, and two of her friends received suspended sentences for prostitution following police raids.

Inspector Joseph Busuttil and Inspector Dorianne Tabone charged 28 year-old Ana Maria Ospina Gonzalez and 25 year-old Juan Daniel Orozeo Castano with participation in the operation of a brothel out of an apartment in Bisazza Street, Sliema.

Magistrate Victor Axiak was told how the police had acted on a report about an apartment being used for prostitution and set up a surveillance operation, several weeks long. The report was confirmed and arrest warrants were issued on October 4. arrested. Items related to prostitution - and some €14,000 in cash - were also found inside the apartment, Inspector Tabone said.

The police are understood to have arrested the women while carrying out an inspection at the flat, which they suspected of being used for the purposes of prostitution. The inspection was preceded by a long term police surveillance operation, which indicated that illicit activity was happening at the flat. Inside the apartment officers found two women, who had only just arrived in Malta. While the police were talking to them, two more women entered the flat. 

One of them said she lived there and admitted to using it for prostitution.

The other woman told the police that she did not live at the apartment. She was escorted to her flat, where the police found the drugs. No items related to prostitution were found in her residence. 

The women had come to Malta on several previous occasions and told the police that they would divide their earnings between them. The police investigation did not find any evidence to suggest that the women were being exploited by a pimp, nor that they had been trafficked. 

The prosecution exhibited four sealed envelopes containing the cash seized by the police from the apartment.

Lawyer Noel Bianco, who appeared for Gonzales, informed the court that his client would be filing a guilty plea, highlighting her cooperation with the police and immediate guilty plea.

He pointed out that suspended sentences were generally handed down in similar cases, together with a minimal fine. He stressed that his client had provided assistance to the police.

The second woman, Juan Daniel Orozco Castano, represented by legal aid lawyer Maria Karlsson  also pleaded guilty.

Both women were sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for three years, together with the payment of a nominal €50 fine each. The court explained to the women that the law stipulates that a fine also had to be imposed in such cases.

The last woman to be arraigned was 25 year-old Eliana Espinosa Mejia, who unlike her fellow Colombian nationals had been arrested in an apartment in Forest Street, St. Julians. Police had discovered a stash of over 200 pills suspected to contain ecstasy, as well as khat, a banned stimulant plant popular in the Middle East.

She pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy in circumstances which indicated it was not solely for her personal use and simple possession of khat. 

Making submissions on punishment, Espinosa Mejia’s lawyer Noel Bianco pointed out that she had provided the police with information about the ownership of the pills, asking for a suspended sentence and immediate deportation. 

The magistrate called the lawyer and inspectors to approach the bench, where they proceeded to discuss the case privately for almost 30 minutes.

When the discussion was over and everyone had returned to their places, the defendant was asked what she was pleading. “Guilty” she replied, through an interpreter. “Are you aware that this is punishable by imprisonment?” asked the court. “Yes,” answered the woman.

Taking into account the serious nature of the crime on one hand and her early admission of guilt as well her assistance with the police investigation on the other, the magistrate sentenced the woman to imprisonment for 14 months. 

The court also ordered the destruction of the drugs seized.

After the sentence was delivered, a tearful Espinosa Mejia was embraced and consoled by the previous defendants before being led away to begin serving her sentence.