A man has been jailed for four years after being found guilty of stealing €95,000 worth of antique firearms from the customs warehouse in 2008.

Mark Rizzo, 48, of Żabbar, had changed his defence lawyer several times throughout proceedings and ended up not submitting any evidence or making any final submissions, Magistrate Carol Peralta noted.

Another man involved, Christopher Shepherd, 43, had admitted carrying out the theft in 2009 when they were both arraigned. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years behind bars.

The guns had been imported by Raymond Cauchi from the US to add to his collection and were being stored at the Customs General Examination warehouse in Marsa when the two men stole them.

During the case, police inspector Keith Arnaud told the court that five of the guns were traced to another man, Simon Spiteri, who was given the weapons by Mr Rizzo.

The inspector said Mr Spiteri had received them as payment for money he was owed by Mr Rizzo. Testifying in the case, Mr Shepherd confirmed that Mr Rizzo had been involved in the theft.

In his police statement, Mr Rizzo claimed he was only involved after the guns were taken and helped Mr Shepherd get them out of the warehouse. He was to receive five of the guns as payment and gave them to Mr Spiteri as payment for money he owed him.

The court also heard the testimony of another man, Bruno Farrugia, who said that Mr Shepherd had spoken to him and complained at the way Mr Rizzo had “betrayed him” by taking all the stolen guns for himself instead of splitting the loot.