A 36-year-old Dutch woman born in the Dominican Republic felt humiliated and “treated like a dog” when the police arrested her soon after she landed in Malta and took her to hospital to be internally searched for drugs.

Jennifer Koster said she was used to her luggage being searched for drugs whenever she came to Malta to visit her Maltese partner.

But this time police crossed the line – she had to endure a vaginal examination and was given a laxative and asked to search her own excrement.

“I cried. Not because I did wrong. But because of the way I was treated. I felt humiliated. I was brought up in Holland where you have rights. But there is a problem here. They see you are born in the Dominican Republic and coming in from Holland and they think you bring drugs to Malta,” Ms Koster told Times of Malta outside the law courts yesterday.

She went there to meet lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Angie Muscat to discuss filing a constitutional case for having been made to suffer inhuman and degrading treatment.

A police spokesman said they could not divulge details of particular investigations or individuals. The spokesman said that, when police had reasonable suspicion someone was involved in drug trafficking, investigations could include searches and referrals to hospital for medical investigations.

“Such procedures are conducted according to our police ethics,” the spokesman said, adding that police obtained a magistrate’s warrant unless they had the suspect’s consent.

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