Two admit to posing as meter readers, fraud of €232

Two men admitted in court today to having posed as meter readers and defrauding a total of €232 from a number of elderly people.

Philip Borg, 39 from Luqa and Arthur Busuttil, 46, from Birzebbuga, were arraigned before Magistrate Doreen Clarke.

Both men also admitted committing the crime during the operative term of suspended sentences.

Police Inspector Anthony Portelli, prosecuting, said the two men used to go to elderly people's homes, telling them they had outstanding bills and warning them that if they did not pay the outstanding amounts - which they invented - their utility services would be turned off.

Sentence will be handed down on Friday.

In a separate case, John Paul Woods, 28, of St Paul's Bay, pleaded not guilty to trafficking and possession of cocaine and possession of heroin allegedly within 100 metres of Valletta football pitch.

Mahmoud Giuma el Saadi, 32, a Libyan resident in Bugibba also denied possession of cocaine and heroin. The two were also accused of relapsing. They were remanded in custody.