A Togolese refugee living in Germany was yesterday sentenced to six months in jail suspended for a year after admitting to resisting the police who wanted to carry out a surprise search at the airport.

The incident happened at Malta International Airport on Thursday afternoon when Ali Abdoulaye, 21, arrived from Dusseldorf.

Police Inspector Mario Haber said the accused pushed two police sergeants and a police constable before he was arrested. He said the accused flew in to visit his Maltese girlfriend whom he met when she was studying in Germany.

Defence counsel Mark Mifsud Cutajar said it was the language barrier that caused the “misunderstanding”. He said his client was “offended” when he realised the police only wanted to search him out of a whole plane-load of people.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona said language barriers could not justify the manner in which the accused behaved vis-a-vis the police.

Mr Abdoulaye apologised.

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