When Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech was detained in Houston, USA, for cocaine possession last year, he named former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri as his friend in the police arrest report. 

Fenech was detained by US customs inspectors at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on July 15, 2019 after the police were alerted by airline staff that a passenger had noticed Fenech snorting cocaine inside the airline toilet.

Following a search, he was found to be in possession of two ziplock bags containing a total of 8.43 grams of cocaine inside his suitcase, which he admitted to have purchased in London before travel.

Fenech, who initially said that his purpose for travel was to attend stress therapy, later clarified he was there for rehabilitation from substance abuse.
He was transported and booked into the Harris County Jail.

After pleading guilty, Fenech was granted bail and later released under court order and committed to a treatment centre for drug and alcohol addiction. 

On July 29, he was sentenced to serve 30 days in Harris County Jail. 

The police report, which can be seen in the file below, names Schembri as Fenech’s friend.

During police interrogation for the Caruana Galizia murder, Fenech claimed Schembri had asked him to find someone to kill Daphne.

Fenech is charged with conspiring to murder the journalist in a car bomb outside her home in October 2017. He was arrested on board his yacht on November 20 after it was intercepted by the Armed Forces of Malta as it left the Portomaso marina.

The police document relating to Fenech's cocaine arrest was obtained by the Daphne Foundation in a Freedom of Information request.

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