Armed police storm Swieqi apartment in botched raid, terrifying residents

Updated 3.38pm with police statement, minister's comments

Four Swieqi residents have recounted the shocking moment 15 heavily armed police officers dressed in black and wearing balaclavas forced their way into their apartment, pointed guns at them and handcuffed them after getting the wrong address.

The incident last month came to light after the four residents filed a judicial protest alleging the officers “unlawfully” and “violently” forced their way into their duplex apartment on Swieqi Road.

In a brief statement on Tuesday afternoon, the police said the officers involved in the raid were executing warrants issued by the duty magistrate.

They said the heavily armed officers, who were displaying no visible identification, refused to identify themselves during the incident or explain why they had forced their way into the residents’ apartment.

The officers pointed rifles at their faces and held the four residents on their knees at gunpoint, “escalating fear and belief that they would be executed”, the judicial protest says.

It was only when the residents overheard the armed men shouting “pulizija” [“police”] as they forcibly entered the opposite apartment in the same building that they realised the men were law enforcement officers.

The four residents said the incident caused immense psychological trauma and distress due to the lack of identification and violent conduct.

The raid incident was exacerbated when, the next day, the residents were allegedly prevented from filing a report about the events at a police station.

They said a police officer told them he would contact them, but failed to do so.

Sheltering on the balcony

Detailing the alleged incident, the judicial protest explained how one of the residents opened the door to the apartment after hearing commotion in the common area, thinking there was a fight.

As he opened the door, one of the armed officers allegedly pointed a semi-automatic rifle to his forehead, causing the man to retreat inside the apartment while informing his flatmates of the situation.

The four foreign residents sought refuge on the balcony and called the emergency services, but said they received no assistance.

The armed officers eventually forced their way into the apartment through the door on the lower level of the duplex apartment.

The residents said they shouted “hello” from upstairs, and five armed men aimed their weapons at them and instructed them to “come one by one” while keeping their “hands on your head”. They complied with the instructions and descended downstairs with the men pointing their weapons at them.

One of the residents was handcuffed, and his hands were also bound with cable ties. The rest had their hands bound with cable ties.

Breach of rights

The four demanded that all body camera footage and other recordings of the alleged incident on October 14 be preserved, and they be granted full access to the footage and provided with a copy.

They also claimed a breach of their rights to liberty and security, the right to freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment, the right to private and family life and the right to an effective remedy under national and international law. 

The four individuals declared they are holding the police commissioner and state advocate responsible for the damages they incurred

They protested the respondents’ unlawful conduct, calling on them to preserve and disclose all body camera footage and the operational records pertaining to the wrongful entry and unlawful arrest.

Lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Vassallo, Shaun Zammit and Carina Nagiah signed the judicial protest.

Police say they were executing magistrate's warrants

In a statement, the police insisted that the action was linked to a risky operation involving alleged drug importation and trafficking.

The police said a total of 76kg of suspected cocaine, with a street value of some €9m, were subsequently found, in Gozo.

The police said they could not give further details in view of legal proceedings.  

Speaking to Times of Malta, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri stressed the raid was made on the order of a magistrate. The raid was connected to the importation of "large quantities of drugs", Camilleri said.

Police sources said the warrant was issued for all the apartment block.

The matter was also raised in parliament by the shadow minister of home affairs Darren Carabott. He asked the minister what had happened, recalling a similar situation happened last year, when four hooded police officers barged into a woman's home while she was sleeping, in what appeared to be a mistaken identity case. There was also another case where police had burst into the house of a 95-year-old woman. 

Replying, Camilleri said there were "two sides" to a story, and he would not judge either side before getting all the information of both sides of the story.

"What I ask from this chamber is that we do not judge before we have all the facts. I will not judge either side," he said.