The police arrested 17 people over the carnival weekend, most in connection with drugs.

In Gozo, where year after year more young people are spending carnival weekend, the police arrested at least 15 people on counts of drug possession.

On Saturday morning, the police arrested nine people after they found cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy pills and drug paraphernalia in the Għarb farmhouse they were staying at. They were six men aged between 23 and 26 from Naxxar, St Julians, Swieqi and Balzan, and three women aged between 20 and 25 from Swieqi, Sliema and Norway.

The police were called there at around 5 a.m. after a neighbour complained about the noise of a party being held at the farmhouse.

Early yesterday morning, the police swooped down on a residence in Triq tat-Trux Street, Għarb to investigate a similar situation. When they went outside the occupants threw out a plastic bag containing cocaine, the police said. Inside the residence, the police also found “substances suspected to be cannabis and cocaine”, and arrested six people.

The police said the men, aged 21 and 29, are from Għaxaq and Marsaxlokk and the women, aged between 19 and 31, are from Vittoriosa, Birkirkara, Gudja and Birżebbuġa.

Meanwhile, they police yesterday arraigned 21-year-old Sasha Lachlan Mackintosh for attacking and lightly injuring a police official and trying to escape police custody while out on the streets of Nadur on Saturday. The accused pleaded guilty and was fined €250.

In a separate case, a 25-year-old woman pleaded guilty to cannabis possession on Friday and was also fined €250.