Man arrested at airport for hiding cocaine packet in underwear

Sep 7 2022

A Dutch national who arrived in Malta yesterday was charged trafficking cocaine after he was found to be hiding a package of the drug in his underwear.

Melvin Nunes, a 36-year-old Dutch citizen from Suriname, was arraigned before magistrate Elaine Mercieca on Wednesday.

Nunes told the court that he was in the process of moving to Malta and is trying to find a job on the island. Inspector Marshall Mallia, who arraigned Nunes, told the court that the man was arrested on the 6th of September at 0030hrs.

Upon arrival, police discovered a small sachet of cannabis on his person, which Nunes claimed to have been for personal use. However, a full body search revealed 300 grams of cocaine, wrapped in tape and strapped to his private parts.

During the interrogation, Nunes confirmed that this was not the first time he did this, but he plead not guilty to the charges.

Defence lawyer Cynthia Tomasuolo declared that the accused would not be making a bail request at this stage. As the prosecution had also requested a freezing order, the defence lawyer asked what assets the police were referring to as Nunes had no ties to Malta. Inspector Mallia clarified that he was requesting a general freezing order under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.

The request was upheld by the court, prohibiting the accused from transferring, selling or disposing of any of his assets. He was remanded in custody until his case was assigned a sitting date.

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Holiday season peaks with 712,000 Malta airport passengers

Sep 7 2022

A recovery of 87% of pre-pandemic traffic was registered this August, also bringing in an all-time high seat load factor of 90%. Malta International Airport’s traditionally busiest month lived up to expectations with last August’s passenger movements exceeding the 700,000 mark for the first time since 2019.

A total of 712,122 passengers travelled through Malta International Airport in August, marking an 86.5% recovery. This result was registered on the back of a recovery of 84.2% in seat capacity. The seat load factor, measuring the occupancy of the seats available on flights to and from Malta, reached an all time peak of 90.4%, making it an increase of 2.4% compared to August 2019.

The top drivers of traffic for the month were Italy, the UK, France, Germany and Spain. They cumulatively accounted for 67% of August’s passenger numbers. While the UK and Germany featured among the top 5 markets, the number of passengers travelling to and from these countries remained below 2019 levels.

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Photo Credit: Rene Rossignaud.

Appeals to find Max: missing guide dog of partially blind teen

Sep 7 2022

Appeals on social media by many, including NGO Puttinu Cares, are asking people to keep their eyes peeled for Max, a male golden retriever.

The guide dog belongs to a boy who had leukaemia and lost part of his vision after the diagnosis. The dog went missing this morning in the Hal Far area.

A reward is promised to anyone who finds the dog. Max is chipped but has no collar. All the help would be greatly appreciated!

Please call on 99465576 OR 99550292 OR 79331912.

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Scientists discover antibody which can kill off all COVID variants

Sep 7 2022

Researchers have found that the SP1-77 antibody and other members of its lineage demonstrated extremely wide activity in neutralising all COVID variants.

Therapeutic antibodies which were effective early on in the pandemic have lost some of their efficacy as SARS-CoV-2 has mutated and introduced more adaptive variants.

We may be able to better guard against possible variations thanks to a new, widely neutralising antibody created at Boston Children’s Hospital.

In tests, the antibody neutralised all known variants of concern, including all Omicron variants.

Frederick Alt, Ph.D., of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the hospital who co-led the research said that “we hope that this humanised antibody will prove to be as effective at neutralising SARS-CoV-2 in patients as it has proven to be thus far in preclinical evaluations.”

Together with a Duke University team led by Dr. Barton Haynes, Alt and San Luo, Ph.D., they assessed the efficacy of these antibodies. What caused the SP1-77 to be so broadly neutralising.

Structural studies showed that it worked different from current ones. Many of the existing antibodies work by attaching to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike in certain regions, preventing SARS-CoV-2 from binding to our cells’ ACE2 receptors, which is the initial step in infection. The SP1-77 antibody binds to the RBD as well, but in a completely different manner that does not prevent the virus from binding to ACE2 receptors.

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