Updated 12.57pm
Two Albanian men appeared in court on Saturday charged in connection with a spree of burglaries on private residences across multiple localities.
Sinan Gega, 46, and Kociu Silver, 33, are believed by police to be part of an international organised crime group.
The duo were charged in connection with a series of burglaries that began on February 22 in Mosta and ended six days later in Mellieħa, sparking alarm across the country.
The Mosta break-in was followed by two alleged robberies in Swieqi on February 23, and another in Marsascala during the night of February 24 to 25.
On February 25, they allegedly broke into another property in Swieqi, and the next day committed two further burglaries in San Ġwann and Mellieħa.
Two more alleged break-ins followed in Rabat during the night of February 26 to 27, with a further burglary alleged to have taken place in Naxxar on the 27th.
The alleged crime spree ended with a second Mellieħa break-in on February 28.
Men returned to Malta on Friday
In a statement earlier on Saturday, police said the two men had left Malta shortly after the robberies but were identified as returning to the country on a flight arriving in Malta in the early hours of Friday morning.
The two men were arrested upon their arrival at Malta International Airport and appeared in court before Magistrate Jean Paul Grech.
Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna said the police received reports of 11 residential burglaries in different localities between 22 and 28 February, with seven reported to have been successful and four having failed.
After gathering CCTV footage, police noticed the two people committing the robberies were always the same people, he said.
They also noticed that there were always two vehicles present: a Citroen and a Hyundai, which were rented from a company in Qawra.
After speaking to the rental company, the police found that the cars were rented under Silver’s name.
The police further discovered that Silver had booked to come to Malta with Gega.
In a particular hotel, the police found a booking under Gega’s name, and when the police extracted the CCTV footage of the hotel they found Silver and Gega were staying together.
The police also received reports from Belgian police, who said they had detained Silver at Charleroi airport after finding significant amounts of jewellery in his possession, hidden in a shampoo bottle.
Belgian police said that despite Silver not being able to confirm where the jewellery came from, without further information they were forced to release him.
After speaking to the victims in Malta and showing them photos of the jewellery, the victims confirmed that the jewellery shown in the photos belonged to them.
The police were then informed the two Albanian men had booked a flight to Malta for April 17 and subsequently requested an arrest warrant.
Both accused were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning.
The pair were remanded in custody following the court hearing.
Inspectors Jeffrey Scicluna and Christine, alongside Attorney General lawyer Clive Aquilina, prosecuted. Karl Micallef and Francesca Zarb defended both of the accused.
‘Large number of robberies’
Last month, lawyer Kris Borg, took to Facebook to warn of a “large number of robberies from private houses over the past week,” while prophetically suggesting the robberies were the work of a “professional gang”.
Responding to questions at the time, the police said they had increased surveillance activities across all activities following five reports of thefts between February 22 and 28 in Swieqi, Mosta, San Ġwann, Naxxar, and Mellieħa.
CCTV images that captured the burglaries, sent to Times of Malta, showed a man with a torch in a bedroom in one home on February 23 and a group walking through a corridor on February 26.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, it emerged that break-ins in Madliena, San Pawl tat-Tarġa, Lija and Balzan had prompted many homeowners to install or upgrade alarm systems, CCTV cameras and motion detectors, with one security company reporting a 40% increase in enquiries.
The burglaries appeared to follow a pattern: targeting homes when alarms are turned off because residents are home. In one case, a family of seven only realised their home had been burgled hours later, when they discovered jewellery missing from the master bedroom.
Such incidents heightened fears that criminals were conducting surveillance before striking.
Last year, Europol released a report placing Malta among the five countries most affected by organised criminal gangs that carry out thefts and burglaries.
Back in the summer of 2018, another spate of thefts from private residences had been carried out by a criminal organisation.
Police investigations are ongoing.
The police added that victims of the robberies were provided with support from the Victim Support Unit.