Foil-lined bags used in two shoplifting incidents

In separate arraignments, two Romanians have appeared before the courts charged with theft-related offences before Magistrate Francesco Depasquale this morning.

Both cases involved shoplifting and the use of shopping bags lined with tinfoil which, the court was told, was meant to defeat anti-theft RFID tags.

In the first arraignment, a Romanian man was handed a suspended sentence on what was only his sixth day on the island, after he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods.

Inspector Trevor Micallef told the court how the man, Marian Casu, was challenged by staff on suspicion of shoplifting, whilst he was leaving a shop in Sliema. Casu made a run for it, dropping the tinfoil-lined fabric shopping bag, which he had been carrying. 

A stolen mobile phone was also found on the person of the accused when he was eventually apprehended by police.

The man admitted to handling stolen goods and was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for four years.

Casu had barely left the courtroom when another Romanian national was brought in, charged by Inspector Matthew Spagnol with stealing a pair of spectacles from an Optika outlet. Amongst the items exhibited was another cloth bag, lined with tinfoil.

The second Romanian arraigned, 66-year old Tija Budescu, had just finished a month-long stretch at Corradino prisons for shoplifting when she was apprehended in the act of stealing a pair of black glasses worth €291 from the shop.

Last month, Budescu had been handed the minimum sentence after she was found guilty of stealing two T-shirts worth €28 from a Diesel outlet in Sliema.

Inspector Spagnol told the court that a subsequent search of her home had yielded a stash of stolen electronics, mobile phones and costume jewellery.

The court denied the defence’s request for bail and ordered the woman be remanded in custody until a date for her trial could be appointed.

Lawyer Benjamin Valencia was legal aid in both arraignments.